.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The statue was commissioned in 1895 by Emperor Meiji from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko), now known as Tokyo University of the Arts, or Geidai. At that time, Koun was the only sculptor at the school working with wood who was designated as an Imperial Household Artist (Teishitsu Gigei’in). Therefore, although this statue is not signed, we assume it was made by Koun.
Sarutahiko is one of the Okami or Great Gods of the Shinto pantheon from whom the imperial family traced its descent.
Koun began his career at age eleven as a craftsman skilled in carving Buddhist icons in the city of Edo (now Tokyo). The son of a petty gangster in the downtown Shitamachi district, he was apprenticed for ten years to the Buddhist sculptor Takamura Toun in the bustling district near the Asakusa Kannon Temple.
Faced with the introduction of European ideas about sculpture, Koun soon adapted to the changing times. During the 1880s, he carved wooden models for bronze sculptures exported to the West. He also carved wood statues of animals for overseas expositions. An artist with unusual technical virtuosity, he deliberately left the wood –usually cherry wood or chestnut—unpainted and natural, intending to show that Japanese artists were close to nature.
Koun’s first commission from the imperial family came in 1889, and in 1890 he was appointed Imperial Household Artist. By 1893, when he represented Japan at the Chicago Columbian Exposition, he was a professor in the Sculpture Department at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts He specialized in imagery celebrating Japan’s artistic heritage, often with political or patriotic overtones expressing loyalty to the young Meiji emperor, his patron.
Sarutahiko is one of the Okami or Great Gods of the Shinto pantheon from whom the imperial family traced its descent.
Koun began his career at age eleven as a craftsman skilled in carving Buddhist icons in the city of Edo (now Tokyo). The son of a petty gangster in the downtown Shitamachi district, he was apprenticed for ten years to the Buddhist sculptor Takamura Toun in the bustling district near the Asakusa Kannon Temple.
Faced with the introduction of European ideas about sculpture, Koun soon adapted to the changing times. During the 1880s, he carved wooden models for bronze sculptures exported to the West. He also carved wood statues of animals for overseas expositions. An artist with unusual technical virtuosity, he deliberately left the wood –usually cherry wood or chestnut—unpainted and natural, intending to show that Japanese artists were close to nature.
Koun’s first commission from the imperial family came in 1889, and in 1890 he was appointed Imperial Household Artist. By 1893, when he represented Japan at the Chicago Columbian Exposition, he was a professor in the Sculpture Department at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts He specialized in imagery celebrating Japan’s artistic heritage, often with political or patriotic overtones expressing loyalty to the young Meiji emperor, his patron.