Ernest Fenellosa

Ernest Fenellosa

By Chihiro Akie

Introduction

Do you like Japanese arts? I bet perhaps most Japanese people will say “not really”. For Japanese people, art is not familiar at all. In my opinion, most museums in Japan are costly so we cannot visit easily if we are not interested in arts. However we still have many historical Japanese arts because some people tried to protect them and hand them down to posterity. I want to introduce one of those people. That person is Ernest Fenellosa.

About Ernest Fenellosa

Ernest Francisco Fenellosa was born in Massachusetts, America in 1853. He studied philosophy and sociology at Harvard College, where he graduated at the top of the class. At the time, he got interested in art so he entered the art school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. When he was 25, his father Manuel Francisco Ciriaco Fenellosa committed suicide because he could not adapt to his circumstances. According to Christianity, suicide is sin. That is why Ernest needed a new place. Fortunately, he found the information that Tokyo University was recruiting professors. After that he moved to Japan and started working as a professor of philosophy. At the same time, he was attracted by Japanese art. He started studying Japanese art. He found the fact that Japanese people did not respect their art at all which was shocking and disappointing for him. Then he decided to protect Japanese art and tell it to the World. He protected some statues of Buddha and Buddhist images.

Discussion

My discussion questions were “Have you ever been to museum?” and “Which do you like better, Japanese art or Western art?”

The first one question was because I wanted to know how much my members were familiar with art. I was surprised because two people said they have never been there. I guess that many people think art is not worth paying to view.

I expected the answer for the second one that my members would say Western art is better. However everyone answered Japanese one is more attractive which was surprising for me.

Reflection

According to this project, I learned how Japan obtained cooperation from many foreigners. Today we get inspiration from other countries, which is great thing. However I realized that we hardly explain about Japan. We need to focus on Japanese culture. Because if people pay attention to it, then it will be protected and respected. I hope that Japanese people get more interested in Japanese culture. I want to thank Mr. Fenellosa.

References
“Ernest Fenellosa”, (n.d.). In Wikipedia, accessed June, 2015 from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Fenollosa

Meijinooyatoigaikokujin, (n.d.) Ernest Francisco Fenellosa no kozai [The merits and demerits of Ernest Francisco Fenellosa] accessed June, 2015 from http://photo-make.jp/hm_2/ma_23.html

Ernest F. Fenollosa

Ernest Fenollosa

by Yusuke Suzuki

Introduction

Do you know Ernest Fenollosa? He was a non-Japanese who most loved the Japanese art in the world. He was a professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University. As you can see, he was not related to art. In addition, he was not artist, and he had not done the art since 24 years old. However, he will be protecting the Japanese art from Japanese throughout history. That’s such unbelievable thing, because why did non-Japanese people protect the Japanese art from Japanese? It has a very shocking reason.

Personal History

Ernest Fenollosa was born in U.S in 1853. He was a very smart person. He studied philosophy and sociology at Harvard College, and he graduated at the top of the class. Then, he became interested in the art little by little.

After graduating, he was 24 years old; He went to the art school attached to Boston museum. However, his father committed suicide in the next year. He got shock, and he left the U.S and came to Japan. After coming to Japan, he came across the Japanese statue of Buddha, and Ukiyoe “浮世絵” (woodblock prints - Ed) immediately. Ironically, if his father had not died, he might not have come to Japan. In Japan, he taught political economy and philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University as a hired foreigner (oyatoi-gaikokujin) and investigated the Japanese art.

His Achievements

His biggest achievement was protecting Japanese art from a stupid Japanese movement. The Meiji government destroyed Japanese art after the Meiji Restoration, and in particular so many of statues of Buddha and Buddhist pictures were scrapped. That movement was called Haibutsu-Kisyaku “廃仏毀釈”. So many statues and pictures were scrapped, temples were destroyed, and Buddhist priests were forced to change a job by the government during the movement. It is like we were prohibited from eating Japanese food at this time. That’s so terrible. I can’t stand it. However, Japanese people did it at that time.

As a result, Japan lost huge amount of cultural assets. Meiji government was on the point of giving the power to the Shinto and Meiji Emperor. So, they prohibited the Buddhism. It was the reason why this movement was happened. Japanese denied its own culture. That is so ridiculous. I was also shocked at this happening, the same as Fenollosa.

Fenollosa gave an impassioned speech about the wonderfulness of Japanese art for Japanese and tried to create a movement. It took a long time. However, many Japanese noticed that by his effort. His passion for the Japanese art is so strong. For example, He named his son “Kano”. It means Japanese famous Japanese art denomination “Kano-ha” “狩野派”. In addition, he changed his religion from Christian to Buddhist. That is amazing.

Conclusion

I was glad to know about Fenollosa, because I like Japanese culture very much. Japanese art is so touching work and beautiful. Recently, I heard many times that many other countries' tourists are interested in Japanese culture and art. If Fenollosa hadn't come to Japan, Japanese culture might be changed. Fenollosa is the hero of Japanese art.

References

Bungei jankii paradaisu [Literary Junkie Paradise], (n.d.). Nihon no onjin Fenerosa [A benefactor of Japan, Fenollosa]. Retrieved 19 January 2015, from http://kajipon.sakura.ne.jp/kt/haka-topic36.html 

Ernest Fenollosa

Ernest Fenollosa

By Aoi Hirata

Introduction

Do you think what Japanese culture is? When you introduce Japan to foreigners, what do you show them? Perhaps, we think of the historical arts as one of important parts of culture. However, about 150 years ago, a movement to destroy so many of those arts was started by Meiji government because Japan thought their culture was inferior to western one and followed them to renew Japan. During this movement, called Haibutsu-kishaku, one American whose name was Ernest Fenollosa dedicated his life to rescuing Japanese arts.


Personal history

Fenollosa was born in USA, and he was a very smart person. He graduated from Harvard University and his major was political economy there. Since that time, he had interest in art, and then entered an art school in Boston. In 1878, after he graduated from there, he came to Japan to teach economy and philosophy at Tokyo University. Then he was attracted by Japanese arts a lot; however, Japan had been active in haibutsu-kishaku movement which was belief that increased respects for God instead of destroy Buddhism during his staying. He worked on activities to protect art from such a violent movement. As example, he rescued some pictures by famous Japanese artists and sent them to Boston museum. Still, some people today criticize this action, saying that he just contributed to his wallet because he could actually get a lot of money from it.


Discussion

Then, I asked my group members two questions “Do you think such Japanese art should be in Japan?” and “Do you agree with him or not?” To the first question, one student answered that it depends on the reputation of pictures because if they can attract foreigners, it will affect Japanese popularity too. Otherwise if they would not be valued in other countries, they should be in Japan today. On the other hand, there was an opinion that arts should be in Japanese museum. We have learned Japanese history with pictures since we were in elementary school, but it is difficult to see some of them because Japan does not have them. In her opinion, they should be in Japan for Japanese to see. Next, about the second question, most people agreed with his work for Japanese arts. One of my classmates felt that even though he got money, those pictures exist today. We should notice how precious that truth is.


Reflection

From this discussion, I think Fenollosa did well in total. I feel sorry that Japanese could not save our culture and be proud of it because I think culture is built by history of all people's lives. In that confusion of history, various eyes from abroad let people realize later what was Japan and what great things we had. Without Fenollosa, we could not have learned some important piece of Japanese history. Therefore, we needed him.


References

Wikipedia. Ernest Fenollosa. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Fenollosa

近影. Bungei-Jankie paradice Retrieved from http://kajipon.sakura.ne.jp/kt/haka-topic36.html

Ernest Fenollosa

Ernest Fenellosa

By Fumiya

Life of my focus person

Ernest Fenollosa is famous as a student of Japanese art. He was born in the US in 1853 when the Black ships came to Japan. He studied philosophy at Harvard University. After graduation, he was interested in art and entered an art school. When he was 25 years old, he found a job offer with information of Tokyo University and he came to Japan in the same year. He taught economy and philosophy in Tokyo University. After came to Japan, he was really impressed by the beauty of Japanese art and he began to study it by collecting antiques and traveling to old temples. Later, he was shocked that Japanese didn’t respect Japanese art because they aimed at westernization. Then, he began to protect Japanese art. He taught the beauty of Japanese art to Japanese by giving lectures to them and researching antiques with Okakura Tenshin who contributed to Japanese art greatly. In addition, he tried to develop Japanese art by creating new style of art with Kanou Hougai, who was a great painter, and researching the present conditions of western art with Okakura Tenshin. In 1888, Fenellosa established Tokyo school of Fine Arts with Okakura Tenshin and became a vice-president. Later, he went back to the US and tried hard to introduce Japanese art there. Therefore, he contributed to reviving and developing Japanese art greatly.

Summary of discussion

I asked three discussion questions about Ernest Fenollosa to my group members. Firstly, I asked them “Why do you think Fenollosa decided to go to Japan?” Student A answered that she thought his relationship with his family was not so good or his parents were divorced. Student B answered that she thought Fenollosa was interested in Japanese art since he was a child, so he wanted to go to Japan. Student C answered that she thought Fenollosa liked Japanese culture and art, so he wanted to learn about them in Japan. Secondly, I asked “Why do you think Japanese traditional art was treated badly and a lot of temples and statues of Buddha were destroyed when Fenollosa came to Japan?” Student B answered that it was very surprising and she thought because Japan aimed at the westernization at that time. Student A answered that she thought it was because of Haibutsukishaku [the move to abolish Buddhism in Japan, especially during the Meiji period - Ed]. Student C answered that it was difficult, but she thought it was because Japanese liked western art and culture at that time. Finally, I asked “Why do you think Fenollosa loved Japanese art?” Student B answered that she thought because Japanese art was not colorful but simple such as an ink painting and Fenollosa was impressed by this feature of Japanese art. Student A answered that she thought because Japanese art was different from western art, so Japanese art was fresh for him and attracted him. Student C answered that she thought because Japan had many kinds of art and each art was very beautiful.

Reflection on person and project

Through this project, I could understand about Ernest Fenollosa. Also, I could understand that he really loved Japanese art and culture. He let Japanese turn their attention to Japanese art when Japan aimed at the westernization and he carried out various activities to revive and develop Japanese art actively. Therefore, Fenollosa contributed to Japanese art greatly. I thought he was a benefactor of Japanese art. Also, I thought we should respect him and Japanese art. Finally, through this project, I felt that learning the history was very interesting and useful because the history sometimes taught us what we should do.

References

Nihonn no onnzinn Fenollosa [A benefactor of Japan, Fenollosa] Retrieved from

http://kajipon.sakura.ne.jp/kt/haka-topic36.html

Ernest Fenollosa

Ernest Fenollosa

By Yumi Okumura

Do you know the person who protected Japanese art? It was Ernest Francisco Fenollosa, an American philosopher and eastern art historian. In Meiji period, he came to Japan as an oyatoi gaikokujin [Editor's note: a hired foreign expert], and then he was fascinated with Japanese art. However, soon he was shocked that people didn’t treat Japanese art works as important things, so he tried to protect Japanese art. In his life, he visited Japan four times. In this essay, I will talk about three things; how Fenollosa loved Japanese art, how he affected people, and how he tried to protect Japanese art.

At first, I’ll introduce that Fenollosa really liked Japanese art. After he came to Japan, he was interested in Japanese art like an image of Buddha and Ukiyoe, so he started traveling old temples in all parts of the country. Also, he began collecting and studying old art works. Finally, he could collect about 20,000 Japanese art works, and now these are kept in Boston art museum. He wanted to know Japanese art and culture, so he learned Noh plays (能楽) and stayed at a teahouse. In addition, he became a pupil of Minoru Umewaka and decided to convert from Christianity to Buddhism. The more he knew about Japan, the more he loved Japanese art.

Next, I’ll talk that what effect Fenollosa had on people. At that time, Japanese people thought western art was superior to Japanese one. Then Fenollosa made a speech and changed people’s thinking. This speech was printed and handed out to all parts of Japan by new government. Fenollosa influenced many people, but especially, he really affected one person, Hōgai Kano. When Fenollosa went to the first contest of Japanese paintings, he was moved by a painting which Hōgai Kano painted. Though Hōgai refused to meet Fenollosa, Fenollosa went to Hōgai’s house every day and finally Hōgai met him. After Fenollosa could meet Hōgai, he supported Hōgai’s living and promised to buy all paintings which Hōgai drew, and gave advice about adding new style of painting. Later, Hōgai Kano became a pioneer of modern Japanese paintings.

Lastly, I’ll show how Fenollosa protected Japanese art. When he came to Japan, there was anti Buddhist movement(廃仏毀釈). People tended to break images of Buddha, temples and shrines. Fenollosa was shocked by that, so he asked Ministry of Education to create an art investigation committee. He searched more than about 450 art works and about sixty shrines and temples. Based on this investigation, the Ancient Temples and Shrines Protection Law was issued. Also, it triggered the idea of the National treasure. This notion, national treasure, was Fenollosa's. Now in Japan, there are 217 buildings and 871 art works and these are protected so that they are not lost.

In conclusion, Fenollosa found the worth of Japanese art works earlier than Japanese people at that time. Some people say that in collecting them, he drained important art works overseas. However, these still remain without being broken because Fenollosa collected them. If he had done nothing, these art works may not exist now, so Fenollosa was a benefactor of Japanese art.

References

“Ernest Fenollosa”(2013)-Wikipedia. Retrieved 2013.1.23. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%8E%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B5

“National treasue”(2013)-Wikipedia. Retrieved 2013.1.23. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E5%AE%9D

日本の恩人 フェノロサ-Retrieved 2013.1.23. http://kajipon.sakura.ne.jp/kt/haka-topic36.html

Ernest Fenollosa

One of the famous
artworks, “Hibokannon”

By Yoshihiro Isogaya

Wherever you go in Japan, you’ll always see temples, shrines or images of Buddha. Because they are so famous now you’ll think it has been that way all the time, but actually it was the opposite. A lot of Japanese people had no interest in their own arts at that time. Some were even taken down because of that. How did their mind change from not having any interest to having interest? It’s all because of a man whose name was Ernest Fenollosa.

When he was 17, he entered Harvard University to study philosophy. He graduated Harvard University with the highest score. After he graduated, at the age of 24 he entered an art school which was built newly at the Boston Art Museum since at this time he started to have interests in arts.

In 1878 his father couldn’t get familiar with the society and killed himself. Because he lost his mother when he was 13, he lost both of his parents with this tragedy. After this tragedy, like fate, an opportunity came along: he found out that Tokyo University was looking for people to hire. Because of all he’d been through, he thought that it was his destiny to find out about that and from that he decided to go to Japan to teach.

After he went to Japan, he became to be interested in the image of Buddha and the art of Japanese woodblock prints. So he began to collect and study about historic arts all over Japan. Later on while he was studying about Japanese arts he found out something that he couldn’t believe. With all the great arts the Japanese had, almost none of the Japanese had interest nor thought their own art was important such as temples and images of Buddha. He was really shocked about that. Even some of the temples and images of Buddha were taken down because of that. To try to change this situation he started a campaign to tell the Japanese people how beautiful Japanese art is. He told them why they are so beautiful and important. Because of that he was able to change the minds of the people how they thought of their own art and he succeeded to make it the way it is now. It is now the most famous art in the world and all the people know how important it is now because of what he did for it.

He didn’t just help the Japanese art not to die but he also found the real artist, “Kanou Hougai”. He was an artist but he wasn’t famous at all because nobody had any interest in his arts, but Ernest found his art and he decided to talk him into making an art which became a real famous art later on even now. If Ernest didn’t find him this art would’ve never existed and Japanese art wouldn’t have been this famous all over the world. With all that he did it made a lot of difference and I wish more people in Japan knew about this.


Reference list

Ernest Fenollosa. (n. d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved on 09/01/2014 from
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%8E%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B5

Nihon no onzin Fenollosa [Fenollosa the Japan’s benefactor]. (n. d.) Retrieved on 09/01/2014: http://kajipon.sakura.ne.jp/kt/haka-topic36.html