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Edutainment > Osamu Sugiyama - born 1946

Toshi Yoshida - Biography
Mr. Osamu Sugyama
copyright Osamu Sugiyama

Osamu Sugiyama combines two great passions - climbing mountains all over the world and carving the experiences, impressions and memories of his treks into woodblock prints. The artist exhibited his works at the 50th anniversary of the prestigious CWAJ Print Show in Tokyo in October 2005. It was his first CWAJ show and Osamu Sugiyama caused wide attention and approval by critics and visitors.

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Education and Art Training

Biography of Hiroshi Yoshida
Sunrise at Mt. Fuji, 2003
copyright Osamu Sugiyama

Osamu Sugiyama was born in Tokyo in 1946. He had studied at the Yoshida Hanga Academy - an institution established by the Yoshida family to teach and encourage the art of Japanese woodblock printmaking. His teacher was Toshi Yoshida, the eldest son of Hiroshi Yoshida. Toshi Yoshida had taught a group of Japanese and international students the art of making woodblocks until the beginning of his severe illness in the early 1990s that lead to his death in 1995.

Osamu Sugiyma remains connected with the Yoshida family as a member of the hYoshida Hanga Academy. The academy organizes art shows for its members.

A Passion for Woodblock Prints and Mountains

Prints by Hiroshi and Toshi Yoshida
Rice Field in Hakuba Village, 1995
copyright Osamu Sugiyama

The passion for mountains and mountaineering has a long tradition among Japanese printmakers. The ascetic Hiroshi Yoshida is maybe the most famous one. He was a passionate mountaineer and world traveler who had portrayed his personal experience in many woodblock prints of mountain landscapes. During his short stop-over in Europe Hiroshi Yoshida had made sketches for two famous prints of mountain views in Switzerland - Mt. Matterhorn at daylight and a second version at night time - both made in 1925. His son Toshi Yoshida had inherited his father's love for the mountains. Also quite a few of the sosaku hanga artists were avid trekkers like the arduous Azechi Umetaro or the less ambitious hiker Masao Maeda ("The finest panoramas are down in the middle heights.").

Osamu Sugiyama may have inherited the passion for mountains from his woodblock teacher Toshi Yoshida. We do not know of any other contemporary Japanese printmaker who has devoted his artistic creativity so adamantly to mountains as Osamu Sugiyama. He has trekked mountains all over the world - Japan, Nepal, Switzerland and Italy. In his younger years the conquering of the summits was his prime goal - as for most mountaineers. Over the years the experience of the activity became more important - the different views of warmth and severity, the different pictures under different light and air conditions. A kind of Japanese zen approach.

Passionate hikers and mountaineers know that each mountain region has its own individual character. A mountain landscape in Nepal is different from Switzerland. And the mountains in South Tyrol have their own specific personality. Osamu Sugiyama has a mastership in catching the spirit and character of these different mountain regions. In my younger years I have been an avid mountain hiker myself. Osamu Sugiyama's woodblock prints have touched me deeply. They revoke my own past and memories of ambitions, exertion, fatigue, satisfaction and happiness.

Selected Gallery Works

Here are a few print works we would like to present on this page and share its beauty with you.

Dinner is Coming Soon - South Tyrol

Mount Fuji seen by Hasui
Mousugu Dinner no jikan, 2005
copyright Osamu Sugiyama

The print shows a cosy "albergho" (guesthouse) at the foot of the Drei Zinnen Mountain in South Tyrol. If you have ever had the experience of a dinner in a small guesthouse or pension after a long day of hiking in the mountains of South Tyrol this print image will mean something to you.

Coming Home - Japan

Prints by Azechi Umetaro
Kikou, 2003
copyright Osamu Sugiyama

"Kikyou" - coming home. The print shows a Japanese mountain landscape, viewed from a lower level. You are coming home - down into the valley. You have conquered the summit. You are tired but happy. You are looking forward to a hot bath, a sturdy meal and a glass of good red wine. And afterwards you will fall into sleep like a log dreaming of your next mountain adventure.

Recent Exhibitions

Exhibition by Hanga Academy
Climbing up along a Snow Ridge, 2003
copyright Osamu Sugiyama

2002 - Solo exhibition in Tokyo/Japan.
2003 - Yoshida Hanga Academy group exhibition in Tokyo/Japan.
2004 - Solo exhibition at the American Club in Tokyo/Japan.
2005 - Solo exhibition at Tokyo Central Library.
2005 - CWAJ Print Show in Tokyo.

Collections

Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA
Pokhara International Mountain Museum in Nepal.

Dieter Wanczura
(March 2006, updated August 2009)

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