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Watanabe Nobukazu (c.1872-1944)

Prints in Collection


Illustration of the [Emperor at the] National Diet Building
IHL Cat. #1174

Illustration of His Majesty the Commander-in-Chief's Triumphal Return to Reconstructed Diet Building, 1891
IHL Cat. #290

Illustration of a Large Intense Engagement, Sino-Japanese War, 1894
IHL Cat. #84


Illustration of Meeting at the General Staff Headquarters
Illustration of Meeting at the General
Staff Headquarters, August 1894
IHL Cat. #2091



Bronze Statue of Saigō in Ueno Park
Bronze Statue of Saigō in Ueno Park,
1899
IHL Cat. #1277


 
IHL Cat. #609

IHL Cat. #901

Biographical Data

Biography

Watanabe Nobukazu 渡辺延一 (c. 1872-1944)

Sources: The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, Amy Reigle Newland, Hotei Publishing Company, 2005, p. 497; Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 166 and as footnoted.

Tokyo print designer and painter.  Considered the best student of Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912), who worked in a variety of genres from pictures of beautiful women (biinga) to famous views of modernizing Tokyo (kaika-e), including depictions of domestic industrial exhibitions, depictions of the emperor and empress, and Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese War prints (senso-e).  He is perhaps best known for his war prints.  During the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Nobukazu did a considerable number of outstanding triptychs and made his reputation designing battle scenes on land an sea.1 He also produced lithographs.  Original name: Shimada Jiro.  Other gagō (art or studio name): Yōsai Nobukazu 楊斎延一 and Yōsai 楊斎. 

Waseda University Library's database also shows his name written as Utagawa Nobukazu 歌川延一, which puts him in the Utagawa school lineage and is consistent with his training with Chikanobu.2

1 The Sino-JapaneseWar, Nathan Chaikin, self-published, 1983, p. 37
2 http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/search.php

Signatures Attributed to Nobukazu


Yōsai Nobukazu hitsu (by brush of) with Yōsai seal, 1893
 
Yōsai Nobukazu hitsu with Yōsai seal,
c.1890s
  ōju Nobukazo ga with Yōsai seal, 1900
IHL Cat. #259

Yōsai Nobukazu, 1897
 
Nobukazu ga,
c. 1890s
 
Yōsai Nobukazu ga,
1894



 Yōsai Nobukazu hitsu, 1894

IHL Cat. #157

 
  ōju Yōsai Nobukazu ga, 1894

Nobukazu hitsu
with Toshidama seal, 1889

Yōsai Nobukazu hitsu with Toshidama seal, 1891

Yoshu Nobukazu hitsu with Toshidama seal, 1894

ōju Yōsai Nobukazu ga with Toshidama seal, c. 1894-95

 
 Nobukazu ga
with Yōsai seal
 
Yōsai Nobukazu
with Toshidama seal

 
ōju Yōsai Nobukazu ga
with Yōsai seal, 1895

ōju Yōsai Nobukazu hitsu with Yōsai Nobukazu no in seal, 1894
 		 
ōju Yōsai with Yōsai seal



Subpages (18):Beauties Gazing at a WaterfallBronze Statue of Saigō in Ueno ParkGathering Shellfish at Low TideGossip: Sino-Japanese War [Break in the Fighting After Victory at Asan]Hurrah for the Empire! Illustration of His Majesty, the Commander-in-chief, Welcoming [military officers] to the Imperial Palace with the Emperor’s Gift CupIllustration of a Large Intense Engagement, Sino-Japanese WarIllustration of His Majesty the Commander-in-Chief's Triumphal Return to Reconstructed Diet BuildingIllustration of Meeting at the General Staff HeadquartersIllustration of Noble's Imperial CeremonyIllustration of the [Emperor at the] National Diet BuildingIllustration of the Emperor's March from the East CastleIllustration of the Fierce Battle at the Surrender of Pyongyang FortIllustration of the Japanese Red Cross Society General MeetingIllustration of Wedding Ceremony of the Noble CoupleImperial Prosperity: Ceremony in the Eastern CapitalSino-Japanese Peace: The Whole Nation Praises Imperial VirtueThe Attack on Weihaiwei: The Taking of the Hundred Foot CliffUeno Park, Illustration of the Japanese Red Cross Society General Meeting and Ueno Park, Congratulatory Celebration for the Thirty-year Festival of the Capital City