Design of Thought #19: The Other Yuichiro Yamakawa
This is Yamakawa.
"I wonder if my name is on the internet?"—I think everyone has wondered that at least once and tried Googling their own name.
You might hit on celebrities or historical figures with the same name, but in my case, a lot of results for "Mountain Painter Yuichiro Yamakawa" come up.
Rarely, someone who looked me up online will ask, "Mr. Yamakawa, do you paint?" but that is not me ^ ^;. It is a different person with the same name.
However, I used to be a nature guide for Mount Fuji, so I personally love mountains, and my father was a former board member of the Japanese Alpine Club, so I have more than a small connection to mountains.
I am a bit curious about the title "Mountain Painter", and since I have long been interested in what kind of person Yuichiro Yamakawa was, I decided to look him up.
First, according to the Tobunken Archives of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, the profile of Mr. Yuichiro Yamakawa is recorded as follows.
Western-style painter and member of the Issuikai and the Japan Alpine Painters Association, Yuichiro Yamakawa, died on November 12th due to severe frostbite after an accident in the Lo Valdes Andes mountain range in Chile. He was 56 years old. Yuichiro Yamakawa was born in Kobe on April 26, 1909 (Meiji 42). After graduating from Kobe First Junior High School, he graduated from the Western Painting Department of the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1934 (Showa 9). He exhibited at the Issuikai, was drafted in 1941 (Showa 16), was discharged locally in 1943 (Showa 18), and remained in China, producing work in North China with a focus on Beijing. Around this time in Beijing, he met and studied under Sotaro Yasui. He returned to Japan in 1946 (Showa 21), was recommended as a member of the Issuikai in 1947 (Showa 22), and also participated in the Renshukai, a group of students under Sotaro Yasui. He had been an avid mountaineer since his art school days. In 1958 (Showa 33), he organized the "Jugal Himal Exploration Team" with Kyuya Fukada and others, traveling to the Himalayas. In 1959 (Showa 34), he exhibited "Langtang Himal" and "Dorje Lakpa" at the 21st Issuikai Exhibition and received the Member's Excellence Award. In March 1964 (Showa 39), he traveled to Chile alone, arriving in April. Afterward, he stayed in Santiago and traveled to Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, and other places. In November 1965 (Showa 40), he accompanied the Osaka Alpine Club Central Andes Mountaineering Team, departing from Santiago. On November 9th, he accompanied team members from C1 camp to C2 camp in the Central Andes, Lo Valdes area. He parted ways with the team members midway to paint and headed toward the camp alone. After losing contact, he was discovered three days later on the 12th, having met with an accident in a crevasse 40cm in diameter and 23cm deep in a snowfield, thanks to the cooperation of the Chilean Alpine Federation and the Chilean Air Force helicopter. He was rescued, but his frostbite was severe, and he passed away at 17:30 that same day.
After graduating from the Tokyo Fine Arts School (now Tokyo University of the Arts), he was drafted to China for the war, and after the war ended, he stayed in China to paint mountains. He had a close friendship with Kyuya Fukada of "100 Famous Japanese Mountains," traveled to the Himalayas and the Andes to paint mountains, and died in an accident in the Andes at the age of 56. Since he was born in 1909, he is roughly the same generation as my grandfather, but it is a life that somehow piques my interest.
It is a unique painting style, drawn with thick touches, that stays in your mind once you see it.
It seems he worked in both oil and watercolor.
There are paintings that offer a glimpse into human activity, such as campsites and village life, not just landscapes. He left behind many paintings of mountain skiing, which is interesting as it shows the gear of the time.
It seems he was also a regular on the cover of "Yama to Keikoku" (Mountains and Valleys).
He was a member of the "Japan Alpine Painters Association," which was established in 1936 (Showa 11) as a group of painters who painted mountains, with the Japanese Alpine Club as its parent organization. It is noted that although the association was temporarily suspended during the war, he was central to its re-establishment after the war.
There is one more unexpected commonality: it seems he was a rugger in his student days. It is a surprise.
According to the "Tokyo Maiyukai", a social site for Mainichi Shimbun alumni, Yuichiro Yamakawa was one of the early members of the Tokyo Fine Arts School Rugby Club, which was founded 30 years after Keio University founded the first rugby club in Japan (1899).
Immediately after enrolling in 1929 (Showa 4), "Yamakawa was standing there holding a rugby ball. I instinctively ran up to him and discussed starting a rugby club," Shinmichi recalled in "Rugby Club of Ueno Park 1929-1992" (published in 1993). (Omitted) "First, we had to make jerseys. I remember putting knit shirts in a bucket in the old cafeteria and dyeing them black," said Shinmichi. They were the All Blacks. Although the club history says it was "Inoue's idea," he also said, "Every time we played a match, our bodies would turn pitch black from the sweat."
Dyeing shirts black in a bucket—it is a truly art school-like episode.
I can picture the scene where they would laugh with each other after a match, with their faces and bodies covered in black dye after taking off their shirts.
About 100 years ago, at the center of the Tokyo Fine Arts School Rugby Club, wearing (presumably Japan's first) handmade "All Blacks" jerseys, was Yuichiro Yamakawa, who shares my name. As an All Blacks fan, this really resonates with me. I have suddenly developed a sense of closeness to him.
It is said that many of his paintings are kept at the Omachi Alpine Museum in Nagano Prefecture.
Since 1995, the Omachi Alpine Museum has housed works by the painter Yuichiro Yamakawa, which were kindly donated by his second daughter, Motoko Yamakawa. The materials we have received include 139 paintings related to mountains, 48 paintings of people and landscapes in China drawn while he was drafted there during the war, and his personal ice axe and skis, totaling 220 items (including 187 paintings).
To have an unexpected connection across time with a complete stranger who lived in a different era—I feel that is where the interest and depth of human society lie.
Someday, I would like to trace the footsteps of the other Yuichiro Yamakawa and visit Omachi. (Yuichiro Yamakawa, December 7, 2013)