Statue of Kano Hogai
Hearing that there was a National Treasure at Kozan-ji Temple in Chofu (Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture), I eagerly set off to visit. After enjoying it for a while, I was looking at a tourist map on my way back when the words "Kano Hogai Bronze Statue" jumped out at me. !!! That's right, I remembered that Kano Hogai (1828-1888) was from Shimonoseki and that the Shimonoseki City Art Museum also had his works, so I decided to stop by there as well. To be honest, I was more excited about this than I was about seeing the National Treasure.
The "Kano Hogai Bronze Statue" was enshrined near the temple gate of Kakuon-ji Temple, about a 15-minute walk from Kozan-ji Temple. Hogai's masterpiece, "Hibo Kannon" (Merciful Kannon), is a popular work that could be called the top earner for the Tokyo University of the Arts University Art Museum, and one cannot help but be drawn into its mysterious composition, which resembles both a Buddhist painting and a mother-and-child portrait. That said, when it comes to Kano Hogai himself, the artist who painted it, I only had an image of his dignified portrait photograph in my mind, and I did not recognize him as a famous figure. Above all, it is surprising that a statue of an artist, rather than a businessman or politician, stands there. While I know of statues of Okakura Tenshin and Asai Chu, those are busts or full-length statues, so this is quite rare. It just goes to show how much the people of Chofu cherish the existence of Kano Hogai.
Hogai's bronze statue was built in 1923, removed in 1943 for wartime metal requisition, and rebuilt in 1979 (Note 1). The back of the statue's pedestal bears the names of Nakamura Tatsuji as the sculptor and Yotsutani Etsuo as the caster. However, since Nakamura Tatsuji was born in 1928 (in Shimonoseki) (Note 2), it seems the original statue was the work of someone else. The current statue was likely created based on a portrait photograph of Kano Hogai (Note 3). In any case, the text engraved on the pedestal is passionate, clearly positioning Hogai as a "great painter born in our hometown." I feel it is no coincidence that the trend of the "era of the regions" and the reconstruction of the statue were projects of the 1970s.
Kakuon-ji Temple is the family temple of the Kano family, and Hogai's father, Kano Seiko, was a painter for the Chofu Domain. As the eldest son, Hogai learned painting techniques from his father from a young age, and at the age of 19, he went to study under Kano Shosen'in Masanobu, a painter of the Kano school. He remained in Edo as a painter, survived the turbulent times, and in 1882 met Ernest Fenollosa (1853-1908), who was staying in Japan as an oyatoi gaikokujin (hired foreigner). Since the Tokyo Fine Arts School opened in 1889, he left his lifelong masterpiece, "Hibo Kannon," to the world in the very short time he had left in his later years. Although he did not take up a teaching position, his works remained at the school and became a model for many later painters. I would also like to investigate the work that the Chofu Domain's official painter left behind in Yamaguchi.
Note 1: Kakuon-ji Temple website, "Bronze Statues and Stone Monuments"https://www.kakuonji.com/keidai/douzou.html (2025 July 27 accessed)
Note 2 Artis Japan website, "Nakamura Tatsuji"http://artisjapan.site/default.asp?action=1&num=36920 (2025 July 27 accessed)
Note 3 Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures website, "KANO Hogai" https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/254/ (2025 July 27 accessed)
Note 4 Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art Digital Archive, "Kano Shosen-in Masanobu"https://jmapps.ne.jp/spmoa/sakka_det.html?list_count=10&person_id=364 (accessed July 27, 2025)