Meiji-era Sketches
 

Although the homes on my mother's side burned down during the war (no political statement whatsoever - just fact), they managed to maintain an assortment of over 200 sketches like these samples. I had a tough time trying to understand what she meant (she is 88), but something about many of these were "pre-sketches" of final artworks.

My great grandfather's name was "Wakio Shibayama" and was apparently teaching art towards the end of his life in Japan. She said he kept a library of such sketches and some have two of his hanko on them for "claiming rights". It appears that some are from the Meiji period:


IMG_8916 by Mustang Koji, on Flickr


Japanese landscape 1800s by Mustang Koji, on Flickr


IMG_8911 by Mustang Koji, on Flickr

Some like the one below were painted on several smaller sheets of extremely thin rice paper that were glued together:


An elaborate sketch of old Japan by Mustang Koji, on Flickr

Does anyone have any comments or historical info on the type of art? I'm not looking for any monetary evaluation, btw.

有難うございます。

give up orz
If it is not a specialist, it doesn't understand. (´・ω・`)

Purple stamp
郷愁(秋)　Nostalgia
柴山和氣(気)男
石川????? It is not possible to read it.
昭和二十三年(1948)七十四才?(74 years old) It is likely to make a mistake.

red fan stamp
柴山

red Square stamp
柴山和氣男? Because it is an old body named Ten, I cannot read.

Negligent prediction:rolleyes:
It might be a thing to facsimile other painters' pictures.

Siokan-san, thank you for your comments and input. However, your kind reply was just a little hard to understand.

柴山和気男はＧｒｅａｔ　Ｇｒａｎｄｆａｔｈｅｒで80� ��才まで生きていたみたい。ご報告とおり、判子三つか� ��つ使っていたようです。二つは紫色で、残りの二つは� ��オレンジいろのもの｢柴山」。そのオレンジ色の判子� ��Artist Nameだったようです。

これ以外私はあまり理解出来ておりません。

ご返事または報告は有難う御座いました。

Siokan-san, thank you for your comments and input. However, your kind reply was just a little hard to understand.

柴山和気男はＧｒｅａｔ　Ｇｒａｎｄｆａｔｈｅｒで80+ 才まで生きていたみたい。ご報告とおり、判子三つか4� �使っていたようです。二つは紫色で、残りの二つはオ� �ンジいろのもの｢柴山」。そのオレンジ色の判子はArtis t Nameだったようです。

これ以外私はあまり理解出来ておりません。

ご返事または報告は有難う御座いました。

Siokan, I am sorry but there is something wrong with the forum. The reply is messed up.

Siokan, you ve got good eyes. Man thats is hard to read.

Ok, the purple stamp says 石川県大聖番町(not sure though)は柴山和氣昭和二十二(and here I am not sure again)小(it does not look like 年, but it should be 年)忘(or 七十)罘　(which makes little sense, in Chinese 忘罘 means to forget the place name), it could also be 小七十(edit: I enlarged the pic: it is 四才). This is odd, he made a stamp for one year when he was 74.

The top is definitely 秋 and no idea what is to the left, though i think there are 2 kanji and first is 月 is seal script-ish form, the other one I cannot read. Then again, the 3 parts are rather close to each other, so it might be one character.

四角い白印お読み：柴山(さいざん)之印、これは画家の� ��号(がごう - what on earth is happening to the kanji input on the forum)である。

Can you make sharper pics?

double posted, sorry, could someone delete this message pls.

Ryuurui-san, yes, the forum was acting up last night. Double-posts and weird symbols instead of kanji. I will have to re-post some enlargements later.

My mother said Wakio Shibayama had a number of hanko as he progressed in age in "experience". She also said he had something like a "pen name".

Thanks for now - I have kid things to tend to for the rest of the day! :)

Pen name is what I wrote about above, and in japanese it is called gagou 雅号 (and it is a main pen name). Calligraphers and ink painters can have up to few of them, and the only way of recognising if it is original work or not is by examining the seal. There is a separate word for the additional pen names, but i forgot what it was.

Here's another example; it's on its side but for the hanko viewing purposes, it is vertically presented:


A beautiful sketch on very fine rice paper glued together by Mustang Koji, on Flickr

I felt it was quite nice especially when you consider it may be a pre-sketch by a student named "Ogawa".

Close up A


判子 by Mustang Koji, on Flickr

Close up B


判子 by Mustang Koji, on Flickr

Close up C


判子 by Mustang Koji, on Flickr