Representative WorksITO Shinsui“Yuge” (Steam)
1924 (Taisho 13)
Kenpon-Chakushoku(Color on silk)

103.0 x 93.5 cm
Meito Art Museum(Nagakute-city)

Koto City Morishita Culture Center
Opening hours：9 a.m. 〜 9 p.m.

This painting was exhibited at the 9th Kyodokai Exhibition.
Along with “Yubi” (Fingers), created two years earlier, it is
one of his most famous works from the Taisho period.
Its vague atmosphere shows the inﬂuence of the Moro-tai
movement, which was characteristic of many works shownat the INTEN Exhibitions at that time.

A master of the portrayal of beautiful womenand a gifted painter of the Taisho period,
both who grew up in the Fukagawa area

Closed : 1st & 3rd Monday(open on Monday that falls on a national holiday)
Year-end & New Year holidays(December 29January 3)
3-12-17, Morishita, Koto-city, Tokyo, Japan 〒135-0004
TEL.03-5600-8666 FAX.03-5600-8677
https://www.kcf.or.jp/morishita/josetsu/ito-sekine

Transportation Access
8 min.
Shinjuku Line / Oedo Line : [Morishita Sta.] Exit A6
Oedo Line / Hanzomon Line : [Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Sta.] Exit A2

SEKINE Shoji“Shinko no Kanashimi” ( Sorrow of Faith)

8 min.
.

Metropolitan Bus [Kameido Station]⇔[Toyomi Suisan Futou][Takabashi]
3 min.

1918 (Taisho 7)
Oil on canvas
73 x 100 cm
Ohara Museum of Art (Kurashiki-city)

Metropolitan Bus [Tokyo Sky Tree Station]⇔[Shimbashi Station]
3 min.
[Morishita-go-chome]
Metropolitan Bus [Kinshi-cho Station-mae]⇔[Tokyo Station North Exit][Morishita-go-chome]Toei
Oedo Line

This is one of Sekine Shojiʼs most famous works, which wasshown at the 5th Nika Exhibition and was awarded the Chogyu Prize.
In the womenʼs clothing, the painter used the vermilion colorthat he had a taste for and creates a dream-like atomosphere.

3 min.

Morishita Sta.

Toei Shinjuku Line

Exit A6

Morishita Go-chome

Onagi-gawa River
HakozakiInterchange

Exit A2

Takabashi Norakuroad Shopping Street

TakabashiTokyo Metro
Hanzomon Line

Takabashi

Sumida Tech High School

Koto City Morishita
Culture Center

Exit A2

River

Kiyosumi
Shirakawa Sta.

aaw-g

reet

idam

Fukagawa Edo
Museumn Exp

ressw

Kiypolita

osumiStSuMetro

Kiyosu-bashi Street

Shirakawa Ni-chome

Kiyosumi
Gardensay

Mitsume Street

Basho Museum

Shin-Ohhashi Street

Kikukawa Sta.

Tokyo Metropolitan
Modern ArtsMuseum

Kiba Park

Kasai-bashi StreetMo
Naknazencho Sta.

Kiba InterchangeTokyo M

etro To

zai LineKiba Sta.

Eitai Street

Joint Exhibition Area
Koto City Morishita Culture Center●Meiji 37 (1904) age 6
He enters Fukagawa Jinjo Elementary School (now Fukagawa Elementary School).
●Meiji 44 (1911) age 13
He studies under Kaburaki Kiyotaka, a Japanese-style painter,and is given the pseudonym“Shinsui” by his master.

ITO Shinsui

One of the two painters exhibited here is ITO Shinsui.
He drew bijinga, Japanese-style single copy brush paintings of beautiful women, originating from ukiyo-e styledrawings of the Edo period (1603-1868), and he playeda leading role as a Japanese-style painter during theTaisho (1912-1926) and Showa (1926-1989) periods.
The other painter, SEKINE Shoji, burst upon the scene
in the Taisho period and was called a genius painter ofthat period, attracting attention before dying at the early age of 20.
Both were acquainted with each other in their childhoods, and grew up in the Fukagawa area of Tokyo andwere bound by a close friendship.
Koto-ku Morishita Culture Center introduces these twoartists through panels showing their contrasting lives
and styles of works; that is to say, “Japanese-style vs Western-style”, “tradition vs innovation”, “chic vs passion”,
and “maturity vs premature death”.

●Meiji 31 (1898)
He is born on February 4th at
the place now known as 1-chome Morishita, Koto-ku, Tokyo.

●Taisho 5 (1916) age 18
He draws a trial painting “Taikagami” (Looking in theGlass). He is aﬀected by the movement named Shin
hanga (literally “new woodblock prints”) and takes
part in it as an artist, drawing a series of Hanshita-e(original drawings for woodblock prints). He moves
to the house where Takehisa Yumeji, a famous Japanese poet and painter, had lived, in what is now Ebisu, Shibuya Tokyo. Sekine Shoji often visits him there.
●Showa 2 (1927) age 29
He wins a special prize at the 8th Teiten Exhibition,
now the Nitten Exibition. Following this he can show
his works at subsequent Teiten Exhibtions without
having to present them to the exhibition judges.

●Taisho 3 (1914) age 16
He wins his ﬁrst prize at theSaikou Nihon Bijutsu Inten Exhibition (Inten Exhibition).

●Showa 11 (1936) age 38
He displays his works at the 1st Fine Art Exhibition (Shin-bunten) held by the Ministry of Education. He is appointed as one of the judges ofthe Teiten Exhibition.
●Showa 23 (1948) age 50
He wins the 4th Japan Art Academy Award withhis painting “Kagami” (Mirror), shown at the Nitten Exhibition in the previous year.
-●Showa 33 (1958) age 60
He holds a Joint Exhibition “Ito Shinsui & Nakamura Takuji” at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama. This year he becomes a memberof the Japan Art Academy, and a member of theboard of directors of Nitten Foundation.
●Showa 47 (1972) age 74
His master Kaburaki Kiyotaka passes away on March 2nd at the age of 93.Ito Shinsui passes away
at Keio Hospital on May 8th from cancer of thebladder.
ITO Shinsui

July Meiji 43(1910)
12-year-old Shinsui& 11-year-old Shojimeet each other whilst
swimming in the Onagi-gawa River in Tokyo.

●Meiji 32 (1899)
He is born on April 3rd at Karame, Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture.
●Meiji 41 (1908) age 9
After moving to the currentSumiyoshi Koto-ku, Tokyo.
He enters Tosen Jinjo Elementary School (now Tosen Elementary School).

“The Fukagawa ElementarySchool (14, Takabashi)”Publication: Cover paintingof the memorial publication
celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding ofFukagawa Elementary School

The Onagi-gawa River where the two boys swam

The times when the two artists met together
her
during their 9 years (1910 ー 1919) in Tokyoyo●Taisho 5 (1916) age 17
His work wins a prize in the 3rd Nika Exhibition.
Around November he becomes acquainted withth thepainter Uenoyama Kiyotsugu who lives in the neighi hborhood of Ito Shinsuiʼs house in Shibuya.

SEKINE Shoji●Taisho 3 (1914) age 15
He meets Ito Shinsui again,
after losing touch for a while.

●Taisho 6 (1917) age 18
In July he meets Shiraki Shizu, a novelist and wife
ife ofUenoyama Kiyotsugu, and talks about his travels
els twoyears before. This motivates her to write the novel
ovel“Tenki” (Turning Point). In September his work winsa prize in the 4th Nika Exhibition. In December hevisits a friend of his, Muraoka Kokuei, a tanka poet,oet,in Yamagata Prefecture.

●Taisho 4 (1915) age 16
He sets out on a wandering
journey and explores the central part of Japan. He becomesacquainted with Kono Michisei, a painter, in Nagano City.
During the journey he comesto know Dürer and Michelangelo through his art books.
One of his oil paintings “Shi O
Omou Hi” ( The Day He Thinks
About Death), which he creates during his journey, brings
him his ﬁrst prize in the 2nd
Nika Exhibition.

●Taisho 7 (1918) age 19
In May he draws illustrations for a literary journalal“Bunsho Sekai”. He performs the role of one of thefarmers in a play, “Jizokyo Yurai”, written by Kume
meMasao, a popular Japanese playwright, novelistt andhaiku poet, at the Yuraku-za theater. He paints thebackground scenery for Ikuta Choukouʼs play “Enko”(Halo). At this time his idiosyncratic behavior iss often
seen. In September his works “Shinko no Kanashimi”
shimi”(Sadness of Faith), “Sitei” (Elder Sister and her Brother), “Self-Portrait” win prizes. Moreover, he is awardd
ed the Chogyu Prize which is given to promising painters. In December he catches Spanish Inﬂuenza,
which leads to pneumonia.

●Taisho 8 (1919) age 20
In January his condition worsens and he is laid
up for a long time. In June at the age of only twenty years and two months his short life ends at
his house in Azumacho, Fukagawa.

SEKINE Shoji“Around the Kikukawa-bashi Bridge”
Taisho 4 (1915)
Oil on board
Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, deposit