Onchi Koshiro: East Gate, Taipei (Taihoku Tomon) 台北東門 (Reserved)

Artist:  Onchi Kôshirô (1891-1955)

Title: East Gate, Taipei (Taihoku Tomon) 台北東門  Date: 1939

Series: 100 Views of New Japan 新日本百景 (Shin Nihon Hyakkei)

Our view is of the Qing-era East Gate in Taipei; we feel the subtropical atmosphere, with palmlike trees and dense vegetation dominating the foreground. Onchi is famous for his unerring sense of color, and we note the unique hue of the sky as well as the precise and intentional colors for the other elements of the design. Onchi was the most prominent of the sosaku hanga artists who contributed to this series, and he contributed two print designs out of the 39 that were included in the (never-completed) set.

Japan ruled Taiwan for 50 years, from 1895-1945, beginning with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which followed the first Sino-Japanese War and transferred sovereignty over Taiwan from China to Japan. The occupation years were certainly often anything but peaceful, but we see how the Japanese considered Taiwan part of their territory at this time in their history, as this design is included in this series of “Views of New Japan”.

This city gate was constructed in the 19th century Qing Dynasty as the Jingfu (East) Gate, one of five original gates which connected the 5 km of city walls that were completed in 1884. The Japanese tore down the walls of Taipei in the early 20th century, including portions of this gate. The building in this portrayal looks close to what is shown in old photographs of the original gate.  Today’s East Gate looks much different and stands at the intersection of Zhongshan South Road and Xinyi Road. In 1921, during Onchi’s first trip outside of the Japanese mainland islands, Onchi visited Taiwan to visit his sister, who was living there during the Japanese occupation. He apparently then made the sketches and paintings that would have inspired this print. It is also possible that this structure looked quite different in 1921 than it did in 1939, when this was published.

Thirty-three artists contributed to this planned series of one hundred works, all members of the Nihon Hanga Kyôkai (Japan Woodblock Print Association). The first work was produced in December of 1938, and the series was halted after publishing  thirty-nine works, in 1941. There were two artist/editors of the set: numbers 1-9 were by Fujimori Shizuo and Maekawa Senpan took over for numbers 10-39. According to the Art Gallery of New South Wales website, publication of this series was stopped by the Japanese authorities during WWII because they feared that the interior of Japan would become known to its enemies. This would not be surprising given the paranoia of wartime, but it is also probable that there were other factors, including limited supplies and artists conscripted into the war machine. The areas of “New Japan” in this series which are no longer part of today’s Japan make it an interesting artistic time capsule of the period in terms of Japan’s early 20th century expansion.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Never framed. The artist’s name has been written in pencil lower right margin, but it is not known if this was written by the artist himself.

Literature: See British Museum website (also for their 2nd example, which is a trial proof), Carnegie Museum of Art, Gallery of NSW. 

 Dimensions: 32.5 x 24.7 cm

SKU: SNH021