(TOP image) "Shoshu Enoshima Pilgrimage Shichirigahama Shinkage" Utagawa Hiroshige *Fujisawa City Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum collection
Go, see, and feel the world of art
File.13Fujisawa City Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum
Miyuki Inoue (Magcal Editorial Department)
Ukiyo-e seems to be booming these days. Mt.Fuji, Enoshima, Kawasaki Daishi, and Hakone checkpoint are all in Kanagawa prefecture! With that in mind, I did some research and found the Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum in Fujisawa City.
5 minutes walk from JR Tsujido Station. And admission is free. I have to go for this!
*The original scenery of Kanagawa Prefecture depicted in ukiyo-e is also introduced here>>
The area around the north exit of Tsujido Station was redeveloped on a large scale, so the sidewalks are wide and easy to walk. To "Coco Terrace Shonan" where the Ukiyo-e Museum is located, you will arrive in no time while passing by a fashionable shopping mall and taking a walk.
First, take the elevator to the 7th floor.
"Fujisawa City Fujisawa Ukiyo-e Museum" collects and displays ukiyo-e prints and related materials on the subject of Tokaido Fujisawa-juku and Enoshima. It seems that they also have historical Enoshima tourism pamphlets, so it is a great feature that you can appreciate ukiyo-e as a local material in addition to the value as a work of art.
The exhibition currently being held is "Scenes of Hiroshige and his friends: the first, second and third generations: From Edo to Meiji" (until July 15, 2019).
Utagawa Hiroshige is the author of the famous "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido". As a matter of course, many of the landscapes of present-day Fujisawa City, such as Fujisawa-juku, Enoshima, and Shichirigahama, are depicted.
By the way, the first Hiroshige was already at the end of the Edo period, so the second and third generations were active during the transition period from Edo to Meiji. It's a little strange to think that ukiyo-e was still being painted in such a turbulent era.
Ukiyo-e is mainly based on people and customs, and Hiroshige and others seem to be the only ones who established the style of "landscape painting" that we think of today and actively painted it. Ukiyo-e is different from “sketching,” which draws landscapes realistically, but works that are said to have been painted after actually visiting the site and imprinting the scenery on one’s eyes have a unique charm.
In the video corner, you can see the "Fujisawa Enoshima Ukiyo-e Famous Places Tour," which visits spots in Fujisawa City depicted in ukiyo-e prints and compares them with the current landscape. The bold deformation is a unique charm of ukiyo-e, and the scenery of the town itself has changed greatly between Hiroshige's era and today. Even so, when I visit the scenery that became the stage again, there are parts that make me feel "I see", which is interesting.
This is a must-see!
“Although only celebrities such as Utamaro and Hokusai receive attention, there were actually countless ukiyo-e artists active during the same period. I think that you can enjoy a wide range of ukiyo-e worlds, regardless of whether they are famous or not."
and curator Ryosuke Masuda.
Since the facility is compact, you can take your time and appreciate each one. Best of all, it's free, so it's nice to be able to stop by casually during your walk.
<Bonus Information>
One floor below the Ukiyo-e Museum is the Fujisawa City Art Space, which is also recommended!
Currently, "Observation Eyes - Life and Nature Drawn by Shonan Illustrators" is being held (until June 16).
The works of these two Shonan-based illustrators are beautiful, cute, funny, a little scary... and very unique. This is also free to view, so be sure to check it out!
