Now in his late 80s, Seiji Fujishiro has had a dramatic change of heart about the way he draws.
Now in his late 80s, Seiji Fujishiro has had a dramatic change of heart about the way he draws.
For many years, the man who pioneered the art of shadow pictures in Japan, concentrated on depicting fairy tales.
But now, at age 89, Fujishiro is focusing his attention on nature in the aftermath of the triple earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in Japan in 2011.
Specifically, he has been examining the landscapes of three of the hardest-hit prefectures: Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate.
In "Fukushima: nuclear village of silver grass," "susuki" silver grass grows thickly around a ruined flounder farm. There is no sign of people, but salmon swim in the river. The flutterings of small life represent powerful images in an otherwise silent scene.
Last November, Fujishiro visited the area, escorted by staff from the town hall of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture. Fujishiro, who was required to wear protective clothing, sketched all day without even taking a drink or restroom break.
Fujishiro's reputation is based on his shadow pictures over the past 50 years or so for the magazine Kurashi no Techo (Lifestyle Notebook) and for creating Keroyon, a popular frog character.
An exhibition that traces his approximately 70-year career, is now showing at Kyo Bun Kwan, a bookstore in Tokyo's Ginza district, through June 9.
During World War II, Fujishiro only drew pictures of girls. But some of them were confiscated as they were seen to be too feminine.
Around that time, he became obsessed with the technique of shadow pictures. After Japan's defeat, he honed his art because he could create images anywhere in his war-ravaged land so long as there was light.
"When I was young, I didn't draw scenes of devastation. I was fascinated by fairy tales that can take the form of dreams and love in the human imagination," Fujishiro said. "But as I've grown older, I've been attracted by the beauty of nature, and I started producing works centered on the local scenery, customs and the like."
Having created art conveying the joy of life, Fujishiro explained that he turned his attention to the disaster zone after he asked himself whether it was OK to simply observe the post-disaster destruction, yet do nothing about it.
"While drawing scenes of ravaged natural settings, I need to make people feel hopeful about their future, and not divert their eyes," he said. "I have limits to what I can do now, not like when I was young. When I got sick, I accepted it and found joy in living with it. There were things about the aftermath of the natural disasters that resembled parts of me."
For his nuclear disaster-themed work, Fujishiro cut out and pasted around 10,000 pieces of paper just to portray the field of silver grass. It took about a month.
"I tried to breathe life into every one of them. If I couldn't, I wouldn't accept it."
Fujishiro, exhausted by his hard work, found his health deteriorating in April.
"I did a lot of self-reflection when I became sick. How much can I accomplish while I'm alive? I don't want to waste away. I want to keep climbing until the end. That's the feeling I want to hold on to."