Japanese Art of Hokkaidō and Kato Tetsunosuke
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Japanese artist Kato Tetsunosuke was active between 1925 and 1950, yet he remains an elusive figure, known today only through scattered fragments—mostly minor references preserved in English-language sources.
He is believed to have been born during the Meiji period, coming of age artistically as Japan moved into modernity. His formative years as a printmaker unfolded during the Taishō era (1912–1926), a time of experimentation and cultural openness. While traces of his activity appear in the late Taishō years, the true flowering of his work belongs unmistakably to the Shōwa era, when his artistic voice reached maturity.
Tetsunosuke’s surviving works are closely tied to the Sapporo Tourist Association, which published many of his exquisite postcards and woodblock prints. These pieces were not merely promotional ephemera; they were quiet celebrations of place, atmosphere, and regional identity.
His landscapes of Hokkaidō possess a rare clarity and calm. Snow-laden fields, distant mountains, and expansive skies are rendered with restraint and sensitivity. Notably, Tetsunosuke also turns his gaze toward the Ainu, the indigenous people of the region. Several postcards feature Ainu crafts, subtly acknowledging a cultural presence too often marginalized, and weaving human history into the northern landscape.
Artistically, Tetsunosuke is associated with the sōsaku hanga (creative prints) movement, which emphasized personal expression and the artist’s direct involvement in every stage of production. American sources also suggest that he worked in watercolor, a claim that feels entirely plausible given the tonal delicacy and compositional confidence evident in his printed works.
In sum, Kato Tetsunosuke’s sōsaku hanga prints and postcards are works of understated beauty. Through them, the natural world of Hokkaidō reveals itself slowly and gracefully, allowing us to glimpse the region’s quiet grandeur through the sensitive prism of his art.
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