Tadashi Asai - Asaichu

A Western-style painter of the Meiji period. Born on June 21, 1850, in the residence of the Sakura clan in Kobikicho, Edo. At the age of seven, he lost his father and returned to Sakura to inherit the family business. In 1872 (Meiji 5), he returned to Tokyo, and in 1875 he learned the basics of Western painting at Kunizawa Shinkuro's Shogido. The following year, in 1876, when the Kobu Bijutsu Gakko opened, he received full-scale instruction in Western painting from the Italian painter Fontanesi, who had come to teach there. When his teacher returned to Japan due to illness, he was dissatisfied with the successor teacher, and left the school together with his classmates Koyama Shotaro and Matsuoka Hisashi, showing how devoted he was to Fontanesi's style and personality. In 1889, he and his comrades founded Japan's first Western-style painting art group, the Meiji Bijutsu Kai, and exhibited works such as "Spring Ridges" and "Harvest" at the school's exhibitions. In 1894, he served in the Sino-Japanese War. The following year, in 1895, he exhibited his work "Search Map after the Battle of Port Arthur" at the Fourth Domestic Industrial Exposition in Kyoto, for which he won the Second Prize for Exquisite Works, and it was this work that inspired his work.

In 1896, the Western painting department was established at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and Kuroda Seiki, who had returned from France, was appointed professor. In 1898, Asai was recommended for the post on behalf of the Meiji Art Association. In 1900 (Meiji 33), he was ordered by the Ministry of Education to study in France, and went there. The landscape paintings (especially watercolors) he created in Grez on the outskirts of Paris are famous. After returning to Japan in 1902, he moved to Kyoto and was appointed professor at the newly established Kyoto Higher Technical School (now Kyoto Institute of Technology). In addition to his school duties, he founded the Shogoin Western Painting Research Institute (1903) and the Kansai Art Academy (1906), where he taught art to young people, and many talented artists came out of his class, including Yasui Sotaro, Umehara Ryuzaburo, and Tsuda Seifu. His style of painting was based on meticulous observation of nature, and he did not simply follow Western trends, but instead devoted himself to creating Western-style paintings that utilized Japanese sensibilities. He went by the names Mokugo and Mokugyo, and was friends with such literary figures as Masaoka Shiki and Natsume Soseki. He passed away on December 16, 1907. His grave is at Konchi-in Temple in Kyoto.

[Shinichi Nagai]

"Kenjiro Kumamoto, editor, "Tadashi Asai" (1970, Nihon Keizai Shimbun)" ▽ "Complete Collection of Masterpieces of Japanese Watercolor Paintings 1: Tadashi Asai" (1982, Daiichi Hoki Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治の洋画家。安政3年6月21日、江戸・木挽町(こびきちょう)の佐倉藩邸内に生まれる。7歳のとき父を失い家督を継ぎ佐倉に帰る。1872年（明治5）ふたたび上京、1875年国沢新九郎の彰技堂で西洋画の初歩を学ぶ。翌1876年工部美術学校が開設されるや、来任したイタリアの画家フォンタネージについて本格的な西洋画の指導を受けた。その師が病のため帰国すると、後任の教師を不満とし、同窓の小山正太郎、松岡寿(ひさし)らと連袂(れんべい)退学したことは、いかに彼がフォンタネージの画風と人格に傾倒していたかがわかる。1889年わが国最初の洋画美術団体、明治美術会を同志と創立、その展覧会に『春畝(しゅんぽ)』『収穫』などを発表。1894年には日清(にっしん)戦争に従軍。翌1895年京都における第4回内国勧業博覧会に出品して妙技二等賞を受けた『旅順戦後の捜索図』は、このとき題材を得たものである。

　1896年東京美術学校に西洋画科が新設され、フランスから帰国した黒田清輝(せいき)が教授に迎えられたが、1898年には浅井が明治美術会を代表して教授に推された。1900年（明治33）文部省からフランス留学を命ぜられ渡欧。このときパリ郊外のグレーで制作した風景画（とくに水彩画）は有名。1902年に帰国してからは京都に移り、新設の京都高等工芸学校（現京都工芸繊維大学）教授に任ぜられた。校務のかたわら聖護院(しょうごいん)洋画研究所（1903）および関西美術院（1906）を創立し、青年たちの美術指導にあたり、その膝下(しっか)から安井曽太郎(そうたろう)、梅原龍三郎(りゅうざぶろう)、津田青楓(せいふう)など多くの逸材が輩出した。画風は細やかな自然観照を基調とし、いたずらに西欧の流行を追うことなく、日本人の感覚を生かした洋画の制作に力を尽くした。黙語、木魚と号し、正岡子規、夏目漱石(そうせき)ら文人たちとも親交があった。明治40年12月16日没。墓は京都・金地院(こんちいん)にある。

［永井信一］

『隈元謙次郎編著『浅井忠』（1970・日本経済新聞社）』▽『『日本水彩画名作全集 1　浅井忠』（1982・第一法規出版）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例