Background
Kazan Watanabe (personal name was Sadayasu) was born on October 20, 1793 in Tokyo, Japan. He was the son of Watanabe Sadamichi, a samurai and important official of the domain of Tahara in Mikawa Province.
1853
Posthumous portrait of Watanabe Kazan
1793
1820
1821
崋山 渡辺
Kazan Watanabe (personal name was Sadayasu) was born on October 20, 1793 in Tokyo, Japan. He was the son of Watanabe Sadamichi, a samurai and important official of the domain of Tahara in Mikawa Province.
Kazan Watanabe studied Confucianism under Sato Issai and Matsuzaki Kodo, but because the fief of Tahara was small and his stipend meager, he decided to take up painting in order to supplement his income, studying under Shirakawa Shizan and later Kaneko Kinryo and Tani Buncho.
Kazan Watanabe took an active part in the administration of the fief, advancing in office until in 1832 he was appointed karb (chief retainer) and was made responsible for coastal defense in the area.
It was around this time that he first became interested in Dutch learning - that is, the study of European science and civilization as it was conveyed to Japan through Dutch teachers and textbooks - joining with Takano Choei, Kozeki San'ci, and others to form a society called the Shoshikai devoted to the investigation of European culture and the discussion of the current situation in Japan and abroad.
In 1839 occurred the so-called Bansha imprisonment, a move by the shogunate to suppress the members of the Shoshikai and other liberal-minded students of Dutch learning, and Kazan was put in prison along with Takano Choei, but through the efforts of his teacher Matsuzaki Kodo he was released and allowed to return home to Tahara, where he was kept under surveillance.
Later, fearing that he might cause embarrassment to his lord, he committed suicide.
As a bunjin-gaka (scholar-painter), Kazan holds a place of importance in the art history of the period. He studied the techniques of Shen Nan-p’in, a Chinese painter who came to Nagasaki in 1731 and was noted for his realistic depictions of flowers and birds, and of the vkiyo-e painters, and was skilled in the execution of both landscapes and human figures.
He is particularly noted for his unusual portraits in which he employed a chiaroscuro technique borrowed from Western painting to create a three-dimensional effect. Among the best-known representatives of this style are the portrait of Takami Senseki in Tokyo National Museum, the portrait of Sato Issai in the possession of the Kawada family, and the portrait of Ichikawa Beian belonging to the Shimomura family.
