Oda Kazuma
Kazuma’s Catching Whitebait at Nakaumi, Izumo (fig. 5) depicts a boatman steering his fishing boat out into a body of water. The rudder of the boat creates small waves as it moves in the water. Surrounding the boatman are glowing, yellow lanterns that appear to be suspended on poles. Their reflections shimmer in the rippling water. In the distance, a mountain range meets the edge of the water, and a crescent moon rises overhead. There is a limited palette in this print, mostly ranging between yellows and blues. The colors are arranged in such a way to give the effect of a painting, with the ripples in the water and the shadows on the mountains giving the impression of brushstrokes. Kazuma’s print highlights the subtle beauty of the Japanese landscape, romanticizing even the most mundane or lowly of tasks. It would also have likely appealed to a Western audience because the print hints at the influence of Western painting styles while still depicting an “exotic” Japanese scene and staying true to traditional Japanese printmaking styles.
Many artists who were disenchanted with modern Japan and its new, Western-style buildings looked to the rural towns and scenery of the region of Kansai, which includes the prefectures of Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka.[1] Though Kazuma’s Yufuku Hot Spring in Iwami (fig. 6) is representative of this romanization of Kansai’s small towns, this print was not the first to depict this locale. Less than a year prior, Kawase Hasui had created his Arifuku Hot Spring in Iwami (fig. 7), depicting the same Shimane prefecture spa retreat. (Although Kazuma’s print depicts the same as location as Hasui’s, it is unclear why most sources document his print under the name Yufuku and not Arifuku.) Both present a perspective from the top of the steps down into the main street cutting through the town, giving a view of the roofs of the buildings and the hills and trees beyond. However, while Hasui’s print is set in the evening likely during spring or fall, with only a few people out and about, Kazuma’s print shows the town, although blanketed in snow, bustling with visitors. The windows of the buildings in Kazuma’s print emit a warm, inviting glow, while the buildings in Hasui’s seem more closed-off. Both prints, however, are cozy, offering up the appealing image of a unhurried life in the countryside, very different from that in the city.
[1] Kendall Brown and Hollis Goodall-Cristante, Shin-hanga: New Prints in Modern Japan (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996), 76.
