Kinai angya 畿内行脚

FSC-GR-780.925

Commentary by Erin Schoneveld

Posted August 11, 2016

The Kinai angya (Wanderings in the Kinai region) is an ambitious illustrated travel guidebook of 1,100 pages. The numerous texts take the form of travelogues, essays, and poems written by noted male and female literary figures, including Kanbara Ariake 蒲原有明 (1876–1952), Takahama Kyosh i高浜虚子 (1874–1959), and Yosano Akiko 与謝野晶子 (1878–1942), that convey personal reflections and experiences during pilgrimage tours through Japan’s Kinai region (present-day Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara prefectures, collectively known as the Kansai or Kinki). The term angya (行脚), or “wanderings on foot,” in the title originates in Zen Buddhism and refers to a walking pilgrimage that a monk makes between his own monastery and others. By the Edo period, however, the term loses any strong religious connotation to become more of a stock title, with the stops on these routes not necessarily connected with a sacred site. [1]

Like other Bun’endō publications, including Kinai kenbutsu (FSC-GR-780.910.1-6), Shikoku angya (FSC-GR-780.924), and San’yō angya (FSC-GR-780.921), Kinai angya is an example of a new literary genre that emerged during the early twentieth century called kikōbun (紀行文), or “travel writing.” [2]

Since the Edo period, travel—be it pilgrimages, seasonal excursions, or day trips to famous sites—has played an important role in Japanese culture and society. With the development of railway systems in the Meiji and Taishō periods, opportunities to travel throughout the country increased significantly, as did the publication of travel guidebooks (ryokō annai 旅行案内). [3]

The nineteen color and seventy black-and-white images in Kinai angya represent a mix of woodblock and offset printing technologies. An example of the former is the lovely color scene of Kiyomizu Temple in the autumn (pp. 40–41) and of the latter are four black-and-white sketches of tourist sites in Osaka, including Osaka Castle, the pleasure district of Matsushima, and a brick Meiji-era Osaka prefectural government building (pp. 414–15).

Other contributions were by Bun’endō illustrators Nakazawa Hiromitsu 中澤弘光 (1874–1964) and Mizushima Nihofu 水島爾保布 (Nihou, 1884–1958), as well as works by print artists, such as Nabei Katsuyuki 鍋井克之 (1888–1969), Katō Seiji 加藤静児 (1887–1942), Shima Seien 島成園 (1893–1970), and Yamaguchi Sōhei 山口草平 (1882–1961). [4] The artists involved were both Western-style (yōga 洋画) and Japanese-style (nihonga 日本画) painters, and all were from Tokyo. Bun’endō publisher Kanao Tanejirō (1879–1947) was known for employing in-house illustrators, carvers, and printers who were sensitive to the changing styles and media (oil and watercolor) of this second generation of modern Japanese artists.

The images in Kinai angya range from lavishly colored landscapes, sketches of temples, shrines, festivals, and local tourist sites to playful portraits and depictions of daily life. The compositions reflect a nostalgia for the traditional Japanese culture associated with the Kinai region, yet at the same time they juxtapose the increasing modernizing and Westernizing trends of the Taishō period.

In terms of quality, the Pulverer copy has suffered extensive water staining, with paper discoloration evident. Fortunately, this damage has not affected the nineteen color prints that are the gems of this book.

Selected readings
Kendall H. Brown, Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints (Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2014).

Scott Johnson, “The Artists Stretch Their Legs: The ‘Sketch-tour’ Books and Other Developments in Japanese Graphic Arts of the Early 20th Century,” Bulletin of the Kansai University Institute of Oriental and Occidental Studies, vol. 19 (1986), pp. 21–39.

Scott Johnson, “Sketch-tour Books and Prints of the Early Twentieth Century,” Andon 37 (1990), pp. 3–33.

Helen Merritt, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1990).

Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada, Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900–1975 (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1992).

C. H. Mitchell, “Hanshin Meishō Zue A Little-Known Early Shin Hanga Series,” in Matthi Forrer, ed., Essays on Japanese Art Presented to Jack Hillier (London: Robert G. Sawers Publishers, 1982), pp. 118–24.

Copies in other collections

British Museum, London

[1] The author would like to thank Dr. Hank Glassman for bringing this to her attention.
[2] Kojima Shūko, “Kawase Hasui’s Travels and Travel Scenes,” in Brown 2014, p. 40.
[3] Ibid., p. 39.
[4] Johnson 1990, pp. 21–25.