The Japan Society Review 55
Book, Stage, Film, Arts and Events Review

Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)

Designing Nature, Designing JapanThe Rinpa aesthetic in Japanese art
Tango at the End of Winter
Shimizu Kunio’s melancholy masterpiece on stage
Contents
Editor1)

An Interview with Ueda Lisa

2)

Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art

3)

Masterpieces of Artisanal Japan: Wazuka tTea andOgatsu Inkstones

Hugh Cortazzi, Susan Meehan and Mike Sullivan

Tango at the End of Winterwww.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews

4)

William Cottrell
Reviewers
New Reviews

An Interview with
Ueda Lisa
Interview by Mike
Sullivan
Ueda Lisa is the kindof person who lights
up rooms and who
immediately makes you
feel at ease, within a few
minutes of speaking withher you feel as if she isan old friend; it is a talent
which surely has been
honed by the busy lifestyle of being a musician. She
has benefited from an international education which
included study at the prestigious Royal Academyof Music and has also performed internationally. In
addition as part of the Ueda/Rinaldo Duo with Daniele
Rinaldo she has an upcoming concert at Wigmore Hall
which will be followed soon after with a tour in Japan.
Despite a busy schedule this charming and talented
young lady sat down with us for a little chat.
Please introduce yourself and your education in both
Japan and the UK.
My name is Lisa Ueda; I
work regularly in Europe
and Asia as a solo violinist
and recitalist. I wasborn in northern Osaka,
my education started
at Kyoto International
School, and this wasfollowedsoon
after
at Osaka International
School, where I obtained
the IB Bilingual Diploma.
I came to the UK to study
at the Royal Academyof Music as an ABRSMInternational Scholar, and completed both my BMus
and MA there.
I believe my upbringing has helped me both feel athome in a diverse, multicultural city as London, andalso feel comfortable travelling anywhere due to thenature of my profession.
Can you tell us about your upcoming concert at
Wigmore Hall?
The Wigmore Hall is a leading international recitalvenue and is an essential platform for the world’s mostsought-after soloists and chamber musicians. Soon
after I arrived in the UK, my next goal was to one day
perform at the Wigmore. Again, at that time, I thought
this could be an impossible aspiration, and on one of
my first visits, I took a picture in front of it! As I will be2

performing there on Sunday 12 April, I am wondering
where I should take my next picture...
What will you play at this concert?
We have an exciting programme ready – the outerpieces of the recital, sonatas by Janacek and Respighi,
are absolute masterpieces written in the same period
1914-1916. Janacek’s work is about the First World
War, where you will experience gripping tension, sadnostalgia of the past, mixed with sounds imitating
flying bombshells; and the Respighi is energetic, andquite possibly one of the most passionate pieces I haveplayed! The recital culminates in a striking passacaglia
in which the themes and motives of the entire work,
constantly exchanged between violin and piano, aremasterfully interwoven.
Sandwiched between these two late-Romantic pieces
is the world première of Robert Matthew-Walker’s
second Sonata, and Mozart’s gloriously lyrical B-flat
Major Sonata, whose operatic character acts as a
moment of rest from the excitement and intensity ofthe outer parts of the evening.
What was the trigger to study music?
At age 4, I said to my mum that I would like to learn
the violin, flute, and the harp – to which she answered“Hmmm... Shall we startwith one, Lisa?” and I
immediately decided on
the violin. To this day,I have not yet had myflute and harp lessons...!
Why did you choose
to study at the Royal
Academy of Music in
London?
At age 16 on an
International
HonourOrchestra
trip,
wevisited London and weconvinced our teacher
to visit the RAM. At the time, I felt the RAM was ‘upin the clouds’ for me, and that I would never make ithere again. So I asked my friend to take a photo of meon the front steps! The RAM has so much history andprofile, so I thought the world had gone upside downwhen I heard I was accepted with a full scholarship!
How did the Ueda/Rinaldo Duo start?
We are most grateful to Michael Dussek, a renowned
pianist and professor at the RAM, who suggested
we play together. Daniele and I are complete polar
opposites; and he knew that we would create a musicalequilibrium between ourselves. I am convinced that if
he hadn’t put us in touch, we most probably would
not have met.
I understand that you play on a violin which dates
Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)

back to 1596, how does it feel to hold such a piece ofhistory in your hands?

representation of landscape in early medieval Japanesepaintings [...] can be seen as anticipation of Rinpa’.

I am very fortunate to be able to play on a 1596
Brothers Amati violin which has been kindly loaned
to me from Filippo Protani Violins. If I were to put acharacter to it, I think she is on the feminine spectrum,a wise granny – someone who has seen and lived theworld, with a constant twinkle in her eyes. Her voice
has a glorious shimmer and eloquence, Although
she definitely knows when to ‘put on the trousers.’
Indeed, it is a piece of history – and I believe our duty
today is to make sure these instruments get passed on
through the many generations, and continue to touch
the hearts of many audiences to come.

Tawaraya Sōtatsu (俵屋 宗達 d. ca. 1640) and his circle‘drew inspiration from the rich tradition of earlier
yamato-e’ in paintings of artists in both the Tosa andKanō traditions.

What is your favourite thing about Japan, and about
the UK?
My favourite thing about Japan is first and foremost,my family. It is where I come from, and I adore Japanesetraditions. The UK has seen me grow as an adult, andhas given me the opportunities to become the artist I
am today.§

Designing Nature:
The Rinpa Aesthetic
in Japanese Art
by John T. Carpenter
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York2012
ISBN: 978-1-58839-471-2

Sōtatsu’s circle produced shikishi (poem cards) basedon The Tale of Genji and The Tales of Ise. The below is apainting by Sōtatsu of a scene from the latter.
Carpenter goes on to discuss the flowering of Rinpa andthe masterpieces of Ogata Kōrin as well as the works ofhis brother Ogata Kenzan (尾形 乾山, 1663–1743) andhis circle, who applied the Rinpa style to ceramics. Two
screens of irises by Kōrin were in the exhibition andreproductions are included, but readers of this review
are likely to have seen many reproductions of thesemasterpieces and may instead or in addition also enjoy
this painting by Kōrin of a ‘tiger’ (overleaf) although it
lacks the striking colours for which Kōrin became sofamous.
Among the many artists who continued in the styles,
which Kōrin had made so famous, the name of Sakai
Hōitsu (酒井 抱一, 1761-1828) stands out. I havealways admired Japanese paintings of birds and thisone overleaf of ducks in flight by him seemed to me
both life-like and imaginative.
Carpenter describes and illustrates the various subjects,
which Rinpa painters chose. In addition to illustrating
traditional Japanese tales, they portrayed poets andsages, but as became Japanese painters, in whose
tradition the depiction of nature was a key element,

Review by Hugh Cortazzi
The Rinpa school wasa key part of the Edo
period revival of interest
in indigenous Japanese artistic interests describedby the term yamato-e. Paintings, textiles, ceramics,
and lacquer-wares were decorated by Rinpa artists
with vibrant colours applied in a highly decorativeand patterned manner. Their work often contained
evocative references to nature and the seasons, andfavoured scenes were drawn from Japanese literature,
notably The Tale of Genji, The Tales of Ise, and Heianperiod poems composed by courtiers.
This catalogue was published in conjunction with theexhibition ‘Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic
in Japanese Art’ at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York from May 2012 to January 2013.
It is, however, much more than a finely produced
catalogue, and introduces some of the most colourful
paintings and artefacts of Edo Japan.
The book begins with a history of the Rinpa school
before and after Ogata Kōrin (尾形 光琳 – 1658–1716).1
John Carpenter suggests that ‘The highly stylized
Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)

Tawaraya Sōtatsu, scene from Tales of Ise
3

serviced samurai, some nobility as well as city dwellers.
The family was distantly related to Hon’ami Kōetsu (本阿弥 光悦 1558–1637). The Ogata family owned anumber of objects made by Tawaraya Sōtatsu (俵屋 宗
達 d. ca. 1640) and Kōetsu, which Kōrin meticulously
studied. Working in vivid colours or ink monochrome,often on a gold ground, this prolific and versatile artist
developed a painting style which was more abstracted
and simplified than the works of his predecessors.
Korin used decorative and bold designs not just to
ornament paintings but also for textiles, lacquer-wares
and ceramics. Transmitted by means of pattern books
and manuals, the work of the Ogata brothers inspired
numerous other craftsmen. §Masterpieces of Artisanal Japan: Wazuka tea
and Ogatsu inkstones
Daiwa Foundation, 11th February 2015
Review by Mike Sullivan

Ogata Kōrin, ‘Tiger and Bamboo’

they excelled in depicting birds, trees and flowers. The
Japanese, as befits an island country, have an affinity
with the sea and the Rinpa painters were particularly
adept at depicting waves. Their stylized wave designs
had a particular and understandable appeal to the
makers of Japanese kimono who were based in Kyoto.
Many of these designs inspired western artists andseem strikingly modern.
The Rinpa painters inspired the Japanese artists who
resisted the pressures of westernization and thedevelopment of yoga (western style painting) andproduced pictures which kept
alive Japanese traditional styles
in Nihonga (Japanese style
paintings). As Carpenter points
out, the influence of Rinpa canstill be seen in many modern
designs.
Anyone interested in the history of Japanese art or in Japanese design and depiction ofnature should buy a copy ofthis catalogue while it is still inprint and readily available.
Notes

Sakai Hōitsu
4

1. Ogata Kōrin (尾形 光琳 –1658–1716) and his brother
Kenzan (尾形 乾山, 1663–1743)
were members of a Kyoto
family of textile merchants that

Every year the Daiwa Foundation hosts a number of
events on Japan, and recently this included a talk on
Wazuka tea and Ogatsu inkstones with contributors
Timothy d’Offay, Teruo Kurosaki and Timothy Toomey.
For those who couldn’t attend the talk, they helpfully
stream their events online.
Although the link between Wazuka tea and Ogatsu
inkstones might not be obvious, in fact traditionalteahouses normally display calligraphy scrolls on
their walls. So normally people enjoy both tea andcalligraphy at the same time, and the cornerstone
to beautiful calligraphy is an inkstone. It is quite
interesting how the experience of enjoying tea andwriting kanji characters follow on almost parallel lines.
One of the event assistants explained how the colour
and texture of the ink depends on how long one
spends on creating the ink with the inkstone. If one
spends twenty minutes on just preparing the ink they
can relax, they can smell the ink and they can clear
their minds. For tea to be properly enjoyed one musttake time to make the tea, to smell it, to see its texture
and at the same time clear one’s mind.
The first hour of the event encompassed speeches
from both Timothy and Teruo on their respective
areas. Teruo Kurosaki is the founder of Idée, a Tokyo
furniture and interior company, but since 2002 he has
focused his attention on the support of traditional
Japanese craft and culture. He has become involved ina project to revitalise the industry of Ogatsu inkstones.
He explained how before the 2011 earthquake andtsunami 90% of all inkstones came from Ogatsu, andover 200 people were working on the production ofthem. The tsunami destroyed the workshops and dealt
a near fatal blow to a traditional craft with over 600
years of history. Today only four people are left who are
Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)

still working on inkstones in Ogatsu. Teruo describedhis project as being pretty much a new start as they
have to bring back together craftspeople, and begin
a new culture of inkstone production. Alongside thisthey are trying to revive traditional calligraphy as it ismeant to be, not just drawing kanji characters but also
creating your own ink with a proper inkstone. Withno notes Teruo enthralled us for over twenty minuteswith his knowledge of this craft, but despite his passion
for Ogatsu inkstones it is clear that there is a long andhard road ahead.
An interesting and laudable achievement that he hasachieved is to get young designers and sculptors toreimagine the concept of an inkstone. The results of
their work have been on exhibition in Japan and werealso exhibited in the Daiwa Foundation Japan Houseon the same evening.
Timothy d’Offay is the co-author of The World Atlasof Tea, which is to be published in English and Frenchin 2016, and has a shop called Postcard Teas. In histalk he took us on a journey into the world of small
scale tea farming in Japan, and the challenges it faces.
Apart from obvious issues such as the lack of interestof young people in farming, which means that many

Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)tea farmers are quite elderly, there are other serious
problems which most people might not even realise.
For example, one can find ready-made tea in prettymuch every shop or vending machine, but these are
made from low quality tea with no consideration forwhere the tea came from. As these teas are generally
made by big companies they have a lot of power inselecting the tea they use, and how much they arewilling to pay for it. As consumers it is apparent thatto a certain degree we have lost a little respect for
tea when we buy these mass produced ready-madeversions. Timothy also talked about what some farms
are doing to bring back interest to their tea such as
starting blogs, which at the moment are mostly inJapanese, including one particular farmer who invites
international interns. One suggestion that he had
was that local associations of tea makers could try to
make their own version of a ready-made tea, but one
showing where the tea had come from, and which
would be a better tea than the mass produced ones.
After the talks we were invited downstairs to enjoy
freshly brewed Wazuka tea, admire the handiwork of
the Ogatsu inkstone designers and marvel at the workof a young calligrapher from Japan.§5

Tango at the End of Winter at Richmix
Shimizu Kunio, Directed by Annabelle Sami
Cast: Liam Anderson, Bruno Cooke, Anissa Eckhoff,
Paulina Musayev, Ari Rice, Annabelle Sami, Peter
Walker, Sarah Suzuki, Jasmine Gould-Wilson.
Friday 9 January 2015
Review by Susan Meehan
A seemingly bright young actor on the cusp; squaring
up to middle-age dementia, loss and angst he decides
to abandon his career. He is reluctant to grow old and is
still firmly set in his belief that the beautiful die young,stubbornly withdrawing into memories of his youth.
Sound contradictory? That is what you get when afresh-faced university drama group bravely take on an
unusual challenging play, with mature roles. Shimizu
Kunio’s 1984 masterpiece, Tango at the End of Wintertouches on loss and decay but with a light touch, deftaccessible dialogue and ample humour.
The play’s setting is a decrepit family-run cinema
in a small northern town on the Sea of Japan coast,soon to be turned into a supermarket. It is here that
we encounter Sei, a middle-aged actor, who like thecinema, is all washed up.
Sei’s mental deterioration is palpable. He has to rack
his brain before recognising his brother, Shigeo, andthinks his wife, Gin, is his sister, who in fact died years
earlier.
The play speedily charts Sei’s demise over three years.
Gin, his wife, initially optimistic, begins to lose hopethat he will ever get better.
Beautiful Mizuo, an actress from Tokyo, who performedin plays with Sei, has been summoned to pay him avisit. He appears not to recognise her and to think she
has come to see a film at the cinema.
Mizuo eventually reveals to him that she is an actressand that they have worked together. When they firstmet, Sei’s advice to her was that as an actress sheshould not to live too long and that she ought tohave an all-consuming love affair. Does Sei really notrecognise her? Can he be feigning?
Three years ago she did have a love affair with a fellow
actor, but is certain that this had been contrived by
the actor’s wife in order to restore his brilliance andsparkle– it was all an elaborate act that lasted threemonths. Mizuo is enraged just by remembering thisduplicity.
Having been summoned to the cinema Mizuo once
again feels she is being used to make Sei better.
The second half of the play, staged by the Queen Mary
University Theatre Company at the Rich Mix, unfoldedwith greater theatricality and at a faster pace than thefirst, cantering swiftly to its denouement. Sei continues
6

Photo by Toby Jones, courtesy of QMTC

to be delusional, hears voices and remembers apeacock that he had stolen as a child.
Ironically he considers Mizuo to be batty, but in her‘madness’ he perceives a strange sparkle. It is apparent
that this sparkle attracts him and an intensity between
the two emerges, skilfully and credibly played by thetwo actors, Liam Anderson and Paulina Musayev.
There is also more humour in the second half. Ren,
Mizuo’s husband, a nervous wreck threatened andtormented by the evolving affinity between Mizuo
and Sei, obsessively gorges on food. It was funny towatch this spectacularly hammed up by Peter Walker.
By the close of the play, Sei is totally deranged, and theending is both bold and surprising. In the aftermath,Gin surveys the cinema, leaves and says it is beautiful
and sad.
What is she referring to? The cinema in particular,
youth, or life in general?
The play is replete with the blurring of illusion andreality as all characters, not just Sei, struggle withidentity issues. Shigeo has to deal with the unexpected
responsibility of having had to take over the family
cinema as Sei, the eldest brother, had decided to
become an actor and their other elder siblings died.
Mizuo has to deal with Sei’s unrecognition, Gin is
confused by Sei treating her as his sister – is this aconvenient tactic of his – and Ren wonders how much
Mizuo really loves him. Even the cinema has to face theindignity of extinction in favour of a more commercially
viable supermarket.
The theatre critic John K Gillespie talks about Shimizu
Kunio being a child of the American Occupation(1945-1952) and grappling with the change in Japan’s
identity after the war in his book Alternative Japanese
Drama, Ten Plays, (edited by Robert T Rolf and John K
Gillespie, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p 116). This
theme of identity is strongly portrayed in Annabelle
Sami’s production.
The Queen Mary Theatre Company, directed on thisoccasion by Annabelle Sami did an excellent job ofIssue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)

staging the play and of giving it a Japanese flavour
by using words in Japanese throughout such as‘konnichiwa’, ‘yamete’, ‘obasan’ and ‘otoko’. Sami knew
she wasn’t going to get an all-Japanese cast but withthe mix of accents and nationalities was able to createa sense of ‘otherness’.
All credit goes to Liam Anderson as Kiyomura Sei who
played this most challenging part with great versatility
and nuance. Annabelle Sami as Kiyomura Gin also put
in a striking performance as a wife and actress doing
all she can to bring her husband back to normality. She
also did a fine act of directing. Paulina Musayev was
perfectly cast as the beautiful young starlet, Mizuo.
The use of Japanese mannerisms and the occasional
Japanese words as well as Sami’s choice of a range ofinternational actors also gave the play a non-British,
almost Japanese quality – a tremendous achievement.
Most striking was that such young actors could
play roles designed for much older thespians withconsiderable aplomb. Lines were fluffed on a coupleof occasions and there were a couple of wardrobe
malfunctions but nothing that could not have
happened to any cast on its first/only performance at
the Rich Mix. I look forward to their next performance.

The playwright and director Shimizu Kunio was bornin Niigata in 1936 and studied drama at Waseda
University. He has won a number of Japanese drama
awards and has collaborated with fellow director,
Ninagawa Yukio. Tango at the End of Winter was first
performed in 1984. Its first performance in London was
in 1991, directed by Ninagawa Yukio and featuring
Alan Rickman as the main lead, Kiyomura Sei.
Below follows an interview with Annabelle Sami
conducted on 12 January 2015:

Shimizu plays that I came across English scripts forbut this play really appealed to me with its exciting
narrative and interesting characters. I also liked thefact that the women characters in the play were very
complex and had interesting storylines.
Has the Queen Mary Theatre Company put on otherJapanese plays in the past?
Last term QMTC staged an adaption of Akira Kurosawa’s‘Rashomon’. The stage adaptation of classic Japanesefilms is something we will continue to explore in the
future.
Other than adaptations of classic Japanese films, doyou have plans to stage other types Japanese plays?
Personally, I very much want to stage more Japaneseplays, the difficulty of course is that not many aretranslated into English. I am currently learning Japanese
but am nowhere near able enough to translate themmyself! But I think that plays are a brilliant way to show
audiences who may have little experience of Japaneseculture, insights (although dramatized) into Japaneselife.
Will you perform this play again? It was on for just one
day at Rich Mix but has it had a longer run elsewhere?
We performed this play once in November 2014
at Queen Mary University, and then were asked toperform again at Rich Mix. Although we would loveto perform it again, I am a student and therefore havevery limited funds to try and put it on elsewhere! I’malso very keen to discover new Japanese plays and put
them on.
Who helped with the Japanese pronunciation of words
such as ‘konnichiwa’, ‘obasan’, ‘otoko’, ‘yamete’ whichwere used in the play and with how to bow?
I have long been interested in Japan, hosted Japanese
students and got to go on an exchange to Hiroshima
in 2010 so I am aware of certain pronunciations andsmall phrases. As I said I’m also learning Japanese but
still very much a beginner!
We also had great help from Anissa, who played
Hanna, as she grew up in Japan and so we had mini
workshops working on the etiquette of bowing andlanguage.

Who chose to put on this play and why?
I chose to put on the play. I suppose the main reason
for choosing Tango is that I love Japan and I love
theatre, but realised that I had never seen a Japaneseplay performed in the UK. The theatre company
were holding a festival to put on contemporary plays
so I thought it a good opportunity to look up somecontemporary Japanese theatre. There were two
Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)

I thought as we were already performing the play in
English, it was important to try and retain some ofthe ‘Japanese’ in it, and hopefully show respect to theculture through not entirely westernising the play.
What do you feel is distinctively Japanese about this play?
Aside from the obvious inclusions of Japanese names
and allusions to the Sea of Japan and apples from
Aomori, what I found distinctively Japanese about theplay was the writing. Although of course it has beentranslated and adapted I found much of the language
very light and beautiful, something that I recognise7

in other Japanese writers that I have read. Particularly
the image of snow and blossom reminded me a lotof Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. I know this isjust my personal interpretation, but I do find this styleof writing distinctively Japanese. It’s sort of beautifully
descriptive but in an economical way – I think
Murakami has this quality too.
What do you think the play is trying to say?
I think the play is trying to tell us many things, but
the main theme I focused on was the real and therepresented. This is why I liked the idea of shadows,
because I think they fall somewhere in between, causedby something real but only showing the representationof it. There is so much blurring between reality andfiction in the play that sometimes it is difficult to knowwhether characters are speaking or quoting. They allseem to be ‘pretending’ in some way – Sei constantly
flits between roles from his past, Gin pretends to bea sister and a wife (while orchestrating fake affairs),
Mizuo pretends to love Ren – and of course this is all
happening under the incredibly metatheatrical truththat we are all acting in a play. I think Shimizu is trying
to tell us that characters and acting are not something
restricted to the cinema, or the theatre, but something
we all play in real life.
Can you tell me a little about your company? Are you
all students? How long do actors tend to stay with
Queen Mary Theatre Company?
Queen Mary Theatre Company changes its committee
every year, but is always run by students. They holdfestivals throughout the term where students canpitch plays to put on which are then voted in or not. I

pitched Tango and as it was chosen to be in the festival
I could then audition actors etc. who must all be partof the university and society. How long actors stay withthe company depends on if they continue to audition
for plays and if you stay involved with pitching ideas
and such. But in general it is very low pressure andgood if you are like me and enjoy directing but also
performing!
Have you directed before?
I have always been involved in performance and I study
drama but I have never directed before – this is myfirst show! I really enjoyed directing and will definitely
continue. Unfortunately one of my actors had to fly to
America and another Hong Kong so I ended up lastminute taking the role of Gin and the other role wasfilled by Anissa.
Name one of your favourite actors, play, and playwright?
I don’t know if I could name a favourite actor or play,
but a performance that I’ll never forget is Apphia
Campbell’s Black is the Color of My Voice which she
wrote and performed in. In terms of playwrights I, of
course, really like Kunio Shimizu, and also more classic
playwrights like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.
What will you do next?
I am hoping to create a piece that uses Kabuki theatre inform and history as its inspiration and set it in London.
Aside from this I am going to continue seeking out
Japanese writing to showcase in London as I believe
it’s a wonderful way to form cultural links between ourcountries.

Japan Society Publications: Call for Proposals
The Japan Society has long engaged in the publication of books which further the UK-Japan
relationship and / or the understanding of Japan in the UK. These have included works
produced or commissioned by the Society, as well as those which have been initiated byothers and published under the Japan Society imprint.
As a general rule, the Japan Society aims to issue one publication each year and is now
inviting proposals for future projects. We welcome proposals for books of any genre,
including, but not limited to, academic works, guides, children’s books and translations ofworks in Japanese. The only criteria are that proposed publications should further the aimsof the Japan Society as set out on the ‘About’ page of our website, should represent quality
in their field, and must be of interest to more than specialist scholars.
Further details on how to apply: japansociety.org.uk/38450/call-for-proposals/
All expressions of interest will be considered by the Publications Committee in April each year, and those selected will then bepresented to the Board for final approval.

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Issue 55 Volume 10 Number 1 (February 2015)