Biography: ISHIZAKI Shigetoshi (石崎重利)

Ishizaki Shigetoshi (石崎重利 1901-1999) was born on July 5, 1901, in Nokuna, Nakajima-chô, Ehime Prefecture. After graduating from elementary school, he moved to Tokyo and studied at a middle school in Kanda, but left before completion. Subsequently, he studied Japanese painting (Nihonga, 日本画) under his friend's father, Kiseki Takada (1871-1946). Around 1921, he began woodblock printing, and in 1924, his work "Landscape" (Fûkei, 風景) was selected for the Sixth Exhibition of the Japan Creative Woodblock Print Association (Nihon Sôsaku Hanga Kyôkai, 日本創作版画協会).

Ishizaki continued to participate in other exhibitions, including the seventh to ninth exhibitions (1927–1929). In 1931 he participated in the inaugural exhibition of the Japan Woodblock Print Association (Nihon Hanga Kyôkai, 日本版画協会), of which he became a member in 1932. He also showed in the second to fifth exhibitions (1932–1936) and the ninth to twelfth exhibitions (1940–1943). He contributed to the association's important "One hundred views of new Japan " (Shin hanga fûkei, 新日本百景) with his submission of "Miyajima" (宮島 1940). During this period, he achieved some recognition with "Suburban Landscape" (Kôgai fûkei, 郊外風景) at the Eighth Teiten (Teikoku Bijutsu Tenrankai, Imperial Art Academy Exhibition, 帝國美術展覧會) in 1927 and "Seseri with Flags" (Nobori tatsu seto, 幟立つ瀬戸) at the Ninth Teiten in 1928.

Other venues with Ishizaki's prints included the National Picture Association (Kokugakai, 国画会) exhibitions in 1932 (seventh) and 1942–1944 (seventeenth to nineteenth). In addition, he contributed woodblock prints to creative print magazines (dôjin zasshi, 同人雑誌), such as "HANGA" (Issue 16, Kobe Hanga-no-ie, April 1930), issues 4 and 5 of "Hanga" (版画 Sokusha, March and May 1930), and the "Kitsutsuki Hanga-shû" (きつつき版画集) editions for 1942 and 1943 from the Woodpecker Society (Kitsutsuki-kai, きつつき会) led by Hiratsuka Un'ichi.

After the war, Ishizaki returned to his hometown of Nokuna and served as a committee member for education and welfare, among other roles. From 1952, he was a permanent director of the Ehime Prefecture Art Association (Ehime ken bijutsu-kai meiyo-kai, 愛媛県美術会名誉会) and a judge for the Ehime Prefecture Art Exhibition until 1971, participating and exhibiting nearly every year. In 1972, he became an honorary member of the Ehime Prefecture Art Association. Ishizaki passed away on March 31, 1999, in Nokuna, Nakajima-chô, Ehime Prefecture.

Representative collections of his works include "Famous places in Matsuyama" (Matsuyama meisho zue, 松山名所図会 1933) and "Fuji Five Lakes" (Fuji goko, 富士五湖 1937), A much admired series by Ishizaki is his self-published "Collection of Twelve Views of the Seto Inland Sea" (Seto naikai fûkei hangashû, 瀬戸内海風景版画集) from 1937. An example shown above right, titled Bizen Shimotsui (備前下津井), depicts four figures in a boat making their way during a frigid snowstorm. A woman in the middle seems to be breathing on her hands to warm them.

1. Uhlenbeck, Chris, Newland, Amy Reigle, and de Vries, Maureen: Waves of Renewal: modern Japanese prints, 1900 to 1960. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2016, pp.283-284
2. http://hanga-do.com/img/Hangadomeiran102.pdf
3. "Ishizaki Shigetoshi Hanga-shû" 石崎重利版 画集 (Ishizaki Shigetoshi Hanga-shû Kanko-kai, 石崎重利版画集刊行会, 1984) / "Sôsaku Hanga-shi no Keifu" 創作版画誌の 系譜 (Miki, 三木)