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The Sesshu International Art Society was founded in 1994 with REIJINSHA Co., Ltd. as the parental management organization. Crowned with the name of the painter-monk Sesshu from the Muromachi Period (1336 to 1573), this society works to carry on his spirit, to freely exhibit creative compositions, and to give birth to new art from artistic connections that go beyond the conventional framework of factions and teacher-apprentice.
In 2002, this society's first overseas exhibition, "Exposition
de Paris en Commemoration du 500eme anniversaire de la mort de Sesshu
? L'Art des "Kakejiku" de Calligraphie et Dessin"
(the Paris Exposition in commemoration of the 500th anniversary
of the death of Sesshu - The art of calligraphy and sketching in
kakejiku hanging scrolls), was held in Paris, France. In
2003, upon the 10th anniversary of its establishment, the society
held the "China-Japan International Contemporary Art Exhibition"
cooperative exhibit of artists from the two countries of China and
Japan at the Zhejiang West Lake Gallery in Zhejiang Province, China,
the home of the art of calligraphy and oriental painting. The second
edition of this exhibition in China was then held in 2005 on the
strong request from the China side and was an excellent opportunity
to reconfirm the friendship between the two countries through art.
The Sesshu International Art Society annually holds the "Sesshu International Art Society Exhibition" from the end of November into December where, in addition to the art of its members, they publicly solicit excellent works that fit the society's goals. Along with its slogan of "Oriental Art To the World", the society's aim is to convey the charm of the calligraphic and oriental painting arts to the world. |
According to one theory, Sesshu is said to have died in the 1502 in the area known as Iwami (present day Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture). In this land of Sesshu's demise and with cooperation received from all fronts, the "Sesshu Burial Ground Preservation Association" was formed in 1926 by 67 famous Japanese painters of that era such as Shunkyo Yamamoto, Gyokudo Kawai, Bakusen Tsuchida, Kagaku Murakami, Hako Irie, Heihachiro Fukuda, and Shinsui Ito, and included Baron Shigenobu Hirayama as its chairperson. In 1929, with the support of Prime Minister Reijiro Wakatsuki, a project in commemoration of the 425th anniversary of Sesshu's death was held in grand fashion. Following that, changes came to social conditions and preservation activities were interrupted. However, after the end of the war, the Sesshu Burial Ground Preservation Association was reestablished by local volunteers in 1950, and a 450th anniversary commemorative project was held in 1955.
This group however was unable to last long and Sesshu's gravesite
was left to grow untended until 1980 when, through the cooperation
of the citizens of Masuda City and with Masuda mayor Jiichiro Kamisaki
as its chairperson, the group was reestablished as the "Masuda
City Sesshu Homage Association". The most important target
of this association, a museum on Sesshu, was constructed with the
completion of the "Masuda City Sesshu Hometown Memorial"
in 1992 under the "Furusato Sosei (Homeland Creation) Plan"
established by Prime Minister Takeshita that granted 100 million
yen in national tax to each administrative division throughout Japan.
Starting with the mounting for the "Portrait of Masuda Kanetaka" (Important Cultural Property) scroll by Sesshu that Shimane Prefecture obtained, the Association began to exhibit at this memorial museum all of the material concerning Sesshu's calligraphy and paintings that had been collected since its original establishment in 1926.
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At Sesshu's grave, reporting on the association's foundation |
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REIJINSHA president Kazuo Noguchi (3rd from right) with the
Board of Directors of the Masuda City Sesshu Homage Association |
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The parent organization of the Sesshu International Art Society, REIJINSHA has handled publications and exhibitions related to art from the time of its foundation in 1993 and, one of the goals of our company is to introduce superior calligraphy and oriental paintings to a wide audience abroad.
The established theory goes, "'Like calligraphy, like oriental painting', in other words, one who does calligraphy does oriental painting as well, and one who does oriental painting does calligraphy. And the foundation of Japanese-style painting is suiboku-ga." Employing such a trinity in its exhibitions, the president of REIJINSHA, Kazuo Noguchi, met with the likes of old friends suiboku-ga painter and Sesshu researcher Hakutei Doi and the late art critic Kyohei Minakami to discuss ideas on a new departure point for company activities. Mr. Doi (who was both the Chief Director and Osaka Branch Manager of the above-mentioned Masuda City Sesshu Homage Association) proposed establishing the Secretariat for that Osaka branch within REIJINSHA's office and supporting the activities of calligraphers and oriental painters from there.
However, within the world of art in Japan where importance is normally attached to vertical relationships, president Noguchi also expressed his intention of wanting to establish an art association that was free of faction-style connections and to create a place for presenting outlet that valued individuality. So, as a compromise plan, it was decided to establish the "Sesshu International Art Society", crowned with Sesshu's name, within REIJINSHA. In unfettered cooperation with other activities to pass on to future generations the work of Sesshu that had been collected in Masuda, the Masuda City Sesshu Homage Association was situated as a sister-organization with the prerequisite that artists who joined the Society would make the spirit of Sesshu their standard.
Immediately thereafter, on June 23, 1994, president Noguchi visited
Masuda City with Mr. Doi. Along with local Masuda City Sesshu
Homage Association chairperson Tsuyoshi Fushitani and Masuda City
Sesshu Hometown Memorial director Mr. Iwao Yatomi, a conference
was held in front of Sesshu Gardens on the style that the sister-organization
tie-up would take. They also participated in the Board of Directors
of the Homage Association and a cooperative relationship between
the two groups was born.
At that time, amongst various events that were planned in the
Kansai region heading into the opening of the Kansai International
Airport in September of 1994, the only art-related exhibition
commemorating the opening of that airport was the "Fly-Sky-Wings-Soar
Exhibition" by calligraphers (artists from the Japan Calligraphy
Arts Institute held an exhibition of colored-paper at and Takashimaya
Department Store in Osaka where they wrote one of the characters
for? "Fly", "Sky", "Wings" and "Soar"
each on colored paper). Thus, "The 1st Sesshu International
Art Society Exhibition" was planned for that same year as
a major exhibition that would showcase calligraphy and oriental
painting to the expected increased number of people who would
visit Osaka from foreign countries upon the opening of that new
airport. This exhibition was realized with the support of Osaka
Prefecture and the Osaka 21st Century Association. The Sesshu
International Art Society then issued an invitation for new members
from among those who exhibited at this exhibition, and Mr. Koshu
Muto who had won The Sesshu Award there assumed the position of
its first chairman.
Also visiting this exhibition were a delegation from the board
of education of Sesshu's hometown of Soja City in Okayama Prefecture,
who noted that they "had also planned on holding an exhibition
under Sesshu's name in the near future and would like to refer
to the planning materials." Various materials related to
the Society's exhibition were thus offered, and this facilitated
the "The Suisai-ga Open Exhibition in Soja, Birthplace
of Sesshu". From that time on, in addition to that with Masuda
City, a deep association was born with the Soja City Board of
Education.
This first exhibition further became an opportunity to establish
connections with the existing Sesshu Painting Admiration Association
(association chairman and superintendent priest of Tofuku-ji Temple,
Keido Fukushima) and The Sesshu Awards Committee (committee chairman
and former president of Bukkyo University, Kose Mizutani) as well,
and awards are now issued by both of these groups to artists at
the Sesshu International Art Society Exhibition.
Born through the alliance with groups of long and distinguished
history and that have been established by painters who have allowed
their names to be added to future generations, The Sesshu International
Art Society hopes to be a gathering of artists who, as Bakusen
Tsuchida, Hako Irie, and Kagaku Murakami once unquestioningly
accepted the art of the West, possess hearts that invent art with
a flexible posture and utilize sensibilities that can pluck art
from all things in nature. |
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