Hikida (Hikita) Hōshō (1878-1934)
Ukai (Cormorant Fishing)
Signed: Hōshō; Sealed: Hōshō
Pair of six-panel screens; ink and color on paper
68 x 148 inches (173 x 376 cm)
Dusk approaches and a master fisherman spends a few contemplative moments before his work begins. The cormorants too are at ease, collars not yet circling their necks and the torch bucket yet to be filled and lit. His costume, as an Imperial retainer, has remained the same through many centuries, though the fabric perhaps not as luxurious as in Heian days. The baskets await their catch. What will it be today? Will the river Nagaragawa give us ayu, minnow, dace, carp? Soon we will know. When the Imperial party arrives.
On September 15, 1926, an article in the magazine Kyōto gadan fusuhii described Hikida Hōshō as
“a man of integrity whose paintings reflect grace and sensitivity.”
It goes on to say that he was not concerned with fame and popularity but simply painted those subjects he liked, ignoring the trends and political involvements of the art societies, and living a simple life, in his own rather shabby atelier.
Hōshō was born in Mikawa (Aichi prefecture ) in 1878 with the first name of Kumatarō. He was the second son of Hikida Kumakichi, who had been a samurai (rank unknown) in Mikawa, Yoshida-han until the Meiji restoration in 1868. Their family lived in Yoshida-Jōka, Matsubara, Niban-chō. It was a town surrounding the castle of Yoshida, and in 1876 the name of the town was changed to Toyohashi. After his father was no longer a samurai, to earn a living he opened a restaurant, and when that failed turned to farming.
When Kumatarō finished elementary school he first worked as an apprentice at a photo studio and then, at age 15, he met a Mr. Kameda who was originally from Toyohashi but owned a ceramic business in Yokohama. Mr. Kameda had heard about Kumatarō’s talent as a painter and hired him to work for him, taking him to Yokohama to live and study ceramic painting for the following three years. During that time Kumatarō found time to go to Tokyo and study Japanese painting and he became entranced with the world of Japanese art. Soon he decided to move to Kyoto and study under one of his favorite artists, Kikuchi Hōbun (1868-1918), and it was at this time that he began to use the name Hōshō. In Kyoto Hōshō found work at Inoue Shōten designing silk and other fabrics in order to make a living, and continued to study and paint.
Hōshō was a regular exhibitor from the first Bunten in 1907, when at the age of twenty-nine he entered his painting Kuma (Bear), until the twelfth Bunten of 1918, missing only the exhibitions of 1910 and 1912. In the seventh Bunten, 1913, a similar pair of screens of cormorants was illustrated in the catalogue. He also exhibited his work in the 1920 and 1931 Teiten shows. In 1932 he acquired the title of “mukansa,” meaning that he no longer had to submit his work for jury approval for exhibitions.
Perhaps the long hiatus in exhibiting his work toward the end of his life could be attributed to his personal character and his desire to remain quietly out of the limelight and pursue his own style; one that could be said to have reached the apex of its expression in the simplicity, beauty and elegance of his paintings. He passed away at the age of fifty-six on March 18, 1934.
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