Maekawa Senpan: Mount Kongo, Korea (Chosen, Kongosan) 金剛山 (RESERVED)

Artist: Maekawa Senpan 前川千帆 (1888-1960)

Title: Mount Kongo, Korea (Chosen, Kongosan) 金剛山  Date: 1940, July

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

Three men with noticeably dark (tanned?) complexions wearing western clothing and hats and carrying knapsacks pause on their climb along rocky steps to admire the view of the spectacular mountain view on the opposite valley. This is Mount Kumgang, (Kumgangsan in Korean), although in Korea it has different names according to each season. “Kongosan” is the Japanese reading of the same Chinese characters 金剛山, which means “Diamond Mountain”, and this name was used during the Japanese colonial period in Korea. Mount Kumgang is a scenic and culturally important mountain massif located in what is now North Korea; in 2025 Kumgansan was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Between 1998 and 2008, South Korean tourists were allowed to visit this treasured area, as it was designated a Tourist Region, although today tours have been completely shut down. Mount Kumgang has been treasured for its scenic beauty since ancient times, also by countless artists over the centuries.

The Korean peninsula was formally annexed by Japan in 1910; colonial rule lasted until 1945. Online one can find a hiking map online in Japanese from 1939 of the whole mountain area. Kawase Hasui also created a print of this mountain range (Samburam Rock, Kumgang Mountain, from Eight Views of Korea) in 1939, when he also made a trip to Korea. Maekawa Senpan served as editor for prints 10 through 39 of this series, and contributed two of the designs himself. Senpan was known to have visited Korea between 1915-1917.

These scenes of “New Japan” of colonized areas show that perhaps the government was keen to reinforce/justify the notion of an expanded Japan using art as a medium at a time when the war was ramping up the consequences of all of its territories. Japan would “lose” the Korean peninsula as well as Taiwan in 1945, just a few years after the publication of this series was halted in 1941.

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 Carnegie Museum of Art 89.28.713.15, British Museum

 Dimensions: 25.2 x 33 cm

SKU: SNH026