, also known as the , was a short-lived school of painting within the larger Japanese genre of ''ranga'', or Dutch-style painting which lasted roughly from 1773 to 1780. Based in

Kubota Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Kubota Castle in what is now the city of Akita and was thus also known as the . It was governed for the whole of its histo ...

, a

feudal domain A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

, northern Japan, in what is now

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

, it was headed by the domain's lord Satake Shozan and his retainer Odano Naotake. Though many ''ranga'' artists, most prominently

Shiba Kōkan , born Andō Kichirō (安藤吉次郎) or Katsusaburō (勝三郎), was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo period, famous both for his Western-style '' yōga'' paintings, in imitation of Dutch oil painting styles, methods, and themes ...

, produced works on European themes, the Akita painters for the most part painted traditional Japanese themes and compositions using Western-style techniques and an approximation of oil paints. Some of the chief features that distinguish Akita ''ranga'' from traditional Japanese painting (

nihonga ''Nihonga'' (, "Japanese-style paintings") are Japanese paintings from about 1900 onwards that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials. While based on traditions over a thousand years ...

) are the inclusion of shadows, the use of perspective, reflections in water, and the use of blue for sky and sea. In addition, ''ranga'' artists left little or no blank space on a work, emulating Western art traditions and going against East Asian ones, and used oils and resins in addition to Japanese pigments to simulate the appearance of

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varn ...

. Many of their works feature a large foreground subject which displays techniques in light and shadow, with a small, distant, landscape, displaying an understanding of perspective projection techniques.

History

The school got its start when ''

rangaku ''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: /Shinjitai: , literally "Dutch learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Wester ...

'' (Dutch studies) scholar

Hiraga Gennai was a Japanese polymath and ''rōnin'' of the Edo period. Gennai was a Pharmacology, pharmacologist, student of ''Rangaku'', physician, author, painter and inventor well known for his ''Elekiter, Erekiteru'' (electrostatic generator), ''Kandan ...

was invited to help advise the domain on the management of its copper mines. The area was a primary provider of copper to the archipelago in this period, much of which was also exported via Dutch traders based at

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. Though Gennai is known primarily as a physician, botanist and inventor, he was a ''ranga'' painter as well, and mentored Shozan in Western artistic techniques. Odano Naotake, one of Shozan's chief retainers, was then sent to

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

to live and study with Gennai for five years, and it is believed that he likely came into contact with a number of other artists and ''rangaku'' scholars during this time. Returning to Akita, he composed, along with Shozan, three treatises on Western style painting. These were among the first of their kind to be produced in Japan. The school worked primarily from sketchbooks and from life studies of plants, birds, and insects. Since its members were all fairly wealthy, and of the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

class, they had little need to sell their works, but their influence was felt by some commercial artists, including Shiba Kōkan. Hiraga Gennai was arrested and imprisoned in 1779 for killing one of his disciples in anger and frustration; he died himself soon afterwards. Odano Naotake, being closely associated with Gennai, was dismissed from his official position in Edo. The movement came to an end shortly after the death of Satake Shozan in 1780 and Odano Naotake in 1785.

Main artists

* Satake Shozan * Odano Naotake *

Satake Yoshimi Satake may refer to: *Satake clan, a Japanese samurai clan originally from Hitachi Province *Satake Corporation, a multinational agricultural equipment maker based in Hiroshima, Japan *Asteroid 8194 Satake *Ichirō Satake (1927–2014), Japanese ...

References

*Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos. ''Tour of Duty''. University of Hawaii Press (2008). page 227. *Thunberg, C. P. ''Japan Extolled and Decried: Carl Peter Thunberg's Travels in Japan 1775–1776''. Routledge (005) *Screech. Timon. ''The Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity''. Reaktion (2000). -

External links

Akita Ranga at JAANUS
Accessed 16 May 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Akita Ranga Schools of Japanese art History of Akita Prefecture