Nihon no yūshū, Vol.
1
DESCRIPTION CONTENTS
COMMENTARY
pp. 2-3 p. 1
Nihon no yūshū 日本の憂愁
FSC-GR-780.499.1-2
front cover
Commentary by Alicia Volk
Posted October 17, 2016
pp. 8-9 pp. 6-7 pp. 4-5
Printmaker, poet, and book designer Onchi
Kōshirō’s second son, Masuo, was killed in the
war in August 1945 at the young age of twenty-
three. Over the next decade, which coincided
with the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945–
pp. 14-15 pp. 12-13 pp. 10-11 1952), Onchi’s artistic output was prolific yet
marked by grief and sadness; he would die in
his prime in 1955 at age sixty-three. Nihon no
yūshū (Melancholy of Japan)—a collection of
recent prints and poetry that was published
pp. 20-21 pp. 18-19 pp. 16-17 several months after the artist’s death—is
rooted in and expressive of Onchi’s personal
tragedy and loss, as well as that of the defeated
Japanese nation.
pp. 26-27 pp. 24-25 pp. 22-23
Nihon no yūshū was compiled and produced by
Sawada Ishirō 澤田伊四郎of the Atami-based
publishing house Ryūseikaku with materials
furnished by the Onchi family. Onchi had
previously worked with the Ryūseikaku, but it is
pp. 32-33 pp. 30-31 pp. 28-29
unclear what role, if any, he may have had in
the conception and planning of Nihon no yūshū
before his death. [1] Decidedly not a
retrospective accounting of Onchi’s long career,
pp. 38-39 pp. 36-37 pp. 34-35 the book’s contents, which include unfinished
artworks and notes compiled from his papers,
gesture instead at all that he had yet to
achieve.
pp. 44-45 pp. 42-43 pp. 40-41 The book is organized into eight sections. The
first pairs a selection of Onchi’s prints dating
from 1946 to 1955 (two bound and hand-
printed kuchi-e 口絵, or “frontispieces,” and the
rest offset reproductions) with related excerpts
pp. 50-51 pp. 48-49 pp. 46-47
from his published essays and personal diaries.
This is followed by a draft of Onchi’s
unpublished poetry collection Umi no hyōjō 海
の表情 (Expression of the sea), which includes
annotated sketches for accompanying prints.
pp. 56-57 pp. 54-55 pp. 52-53
Next, a group of seventeen verses is paired
with sketches for prints dating from 1952 to
1955. Excerpts from Onchi’s poetry and art
notebooks, a diary of his hospital stay in the
pp. 62-63 pp. 60-61 pp. 58-59 spring of 1955, remarks by artist Ishii Tsuruzō
石井鶴三 (1887–1973), and a publisher’s
postscript round out the volume.
The book’s finished artworks are largely drawn
pp. 68-69 pp. 66-67 pp. 64-65 from the several mostly abstract print series
that Onchi created following the war: Forme,
Lyrique, Poème, Image, Allegorie and
Caricature. The outer case features Poème No.
15 Past (Kako 過去; 1950). Lyrique No. 23
pp. 74-75 pp. 72-73 pp. 70-71
(1952) graces the front cover and Lyrique no.
25 (1953) the back cover. Onchi described the
latter’s abstract motif as expressing “confusion
and hope.” Similarly, one of the two kuchi-e is
titled Lyrique No. 12 Uncertain Hope (Tayorinai
pp. 80-81 pp. 78-79 pp. 76-77
kibō たよりない希望; 1951). [2] Such imagery is
in keeping with the book’s namesake print,
Lyrique No. 13 Melancholy of Japan (Nihon no
yūshū 日本の憂愁; 1951, third image), which
pp. 86-87 pp. 84-85 pp. 82-83 sets the overall tone of resigned despair.Other
prints are subtitled Ruin (Haikyo癈墟),
Loneliness (Kodoku 孤獨), and My Deathmask
(Jibun no shibō 自分の死貌), the seventh, tenth,
and eleventh compositions, respectively.
pp. 92-93 pp. 90-91 pp. 88-89
While Nihon no yūshū was clearly directed at a
Japanese readership, the five Onchi prints
exhibited in the third SãoPaulo Biennale the
month after the artist’s death speak to his
pp. 98-99 pp. 96-97 pp. 94-95
recent acclaim among foreigners. In fact,
Poème No. 15 Past and Lyrique No. 12
Uncertain Hope had been shown at the second
Lugano International Print Exhibition in 1952.
pp. 104-105 pp. 102-103 pp. 100-101
Along with fellow print artist Hiratsuka Un’ichi,
Onchi was given pride of place in Oliver
Statler’s Modern Japanese Prints: An Art
Reborn, an influential English-language
publication from 1956. Onchi’s diary,
pp. 110-111 pp. 108-109 pp. 106-107 reproduced in Nihon no yūshū, indicates that
Statler twice visited the artist to discuss the
publication during his hospitalization.
Selected readings:
pp. 116-117 pp. 114-115 pp. 112-113
Onchi Kōshirō hangashū 1891–1955 恩地孝四
郎版画集1891–1955(Tokyo: Keishōsha, 1975).
Onchi Kōshirō: iro to katachi no shijin恩地孝四
郎：色と形の詩人(Tokyo: Yomiuri Shinbun,
pp. 122-123 pp. 120-121 pp. 118-119
1994).
Lawrence Smith, Japanese Prints during the
Allied Occupation 1945–1952: Onchi Kōshirō,
p. 124
Ernst Hacker and the First Thursday Society
(London: British Museum Press, 2002).
Oliver Statler, Modern Japanese Prints: An Art
Reborn (Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1956).
Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, The Graphic Art
back cover of Onchi Koshiro: Innovation and Tradition
(New York: Garland, 1986).
Alicia Volk, Made in Japan: The Postwar Creative
Print Movement (Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art
Museum, 2005).
Copies in other collections:
British Museum, London
Kyushu University Library, Fukuoka
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
National Diet Library (NDL), Osaka
Tohoku Gakuin University Center Library,
Sendai
Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library
University of Hawai‘i Library, Manoa
Wakayama University Library, Wakayama
[1] Onchi’s book Kusa, mushi, tabi 草・むし・
旅 (Grass, insects, travel) was published by
Ryūseikaku in 1943.
[2] The title is given as Keisho 形象 (Form) but is
identified as Lyrique No. 12 Uncertain Hope in
Onchi Kōshirō hangashū 1975, 129. Some
other titles in Nihon no yūshū are inconsistent
with those given in this source.
