Cock and Hen by a Rock and
Flowering Grasses, 1920s
Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841) was born Watanabe Sadayasu in Edo into a poor samurai family who served the daimyo (similar to a baron) of Tahara, located in present day Aichi prefecture. Developing a talent at a young age, Kazan was heavily influenced by the artistic styles of the West. He studied painting to earn a living, studied Confucianism under Sato Issai, and later under Matsuzaki Kodo. As a painter he was a man of great originality, who would untiringly sketch. His pioneering efforts in adapting Western perspective to Japanese art gained him a reputation, especially for his character-revealing portraits.
He lived a life of conflict, struggling between his traditional Confucian principles, believing in filial piety and loyalty to his diamyo, and in contrast, learning about Western ideas regarding science and politics. These conflicts are evident in the two aspects of his life. Firstly, in 1832 he served in Edo as a Toshiyoriyaku, a government official, where he was in charge of coastal defense. He was acquainted with Takano Choei (1804-1850) and Koseki Sanei (1787-1839) and studied foreign affairs, getting him better acquainted with the Western world. Secondly, he wrote two private essays, which were interpreted as being critical of the Shogunate's defense of Tokyo Bay and promotional of Western ideas. These papers were discovered and he was tried and exiled to his home province of Tahara. One of the conditions of his exile was that he wouldn't sell his paintings, however due to financial stress, he secretly continued to sell. Eventually, this too was discovered and lead to the suppression of his works and house arrest. Under this stress Watanabe Kazan committed seppuku, ritual suicide in 1841.