Aoki Shigeru and Ancient Greece : “Greek Warriors” and a waka on Hylas

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Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 青木繁と古代ギリシャとの接点 : 『ギリシャ武人』とヒュラスの和歌について
  • アオキ　シゲル　ト　コダイ　ギリシャ　トノ　セッテン　ギリシャ　ブジン　ト　ヒュラス　ノ　ワカ　ニ　ツイテ

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Abstract

This paper is intended as a study on the relationship between Aoki Shigeru, an artist of Western painting in the Meiji period, and ancient Greece. The first thing showing their relationship is a sketch titled “Girisha bujin” (Greek Warriors), which Aoki made in 1904. It has an enigma of subject matter, because the persons drawn there do not look like Greek warriors but Japanese ones. One hypothesis is that Aoki drew the sketch based on what he saw in “Bijutsu sai” (Art Festival) held by the School of Fine Arts, Tokyo, which he belonged to at that time. For a performance with disguised Greek warriors, named “The Greek Pageant,” was given in the festival. However, the disguised warriors in the photographs are quite different from those in Aoki’s sketch. The persons in the sketch have some resemblance to the Japanese warriors in another pageant for the festival, which was titled “The Triumphal Pageant.” It is my presumption that Aoki suffered some lapse of memory or he made the sketch in his imagination without watching the pageants with his own eyes. The second thing is a waka (Japanese short poem) Aoki composed on Hylas, a figure in the Greek mythology, who is known for his handsomeness and the story that he was kidnapped by water nymphs. It is sure that the waka is based on a painting by John William Waterhouse under the title of “Hylas and the Nymphs,” because Aoki mentions the water lilies in the poem, while Waterhouse’s painting is impressive with the water plants. I suggest a hypothesis about by what means Aoki saw this painting. It is most plausible that he came across the work when seeing an art magazine, The Nation’s Pictures, owned by the library of the School of Fine Arts, Tokyo. For the reproduction in the magazine is in color and there is a commentary page for the painting before the page of the art work. That commentary gives mythological information enough for Aoki to make the waka on Hylas’ story, which was unfamiliar to the Japanese people in the Meiji period.

Journal

  • 日本語・日本文化

    日本語・日本文化 50 193-209, 2023-03-10

    The Center for Japanese Language and Culture, Osaka University

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