Green Willow

Settai attended the nihonga elective course at Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Exerting a subtle sense of beauty cultivated through studies of traditional painting and the influence of ukiyo-e, Settai proved popular in wide-ranging fields such as book designs, newspaper and magazine illustrations, and stage design for kabuki and shinpa drama. In each case, his works were overflowing with a modern sensibility marked by both a modern and refined atmosphere of Edo and daring and witty designs.

This captures a moment in the Nihonbashi area in spring, when the willows are at their best. Having lived in Nihonbashi Himonocho from when he was fifteen and mixed with Kyoka Izumi and other persons of culture there, Settai must have been very familiar with the atmosphere in Nihonbashi. The composition has a sense of depth looking down from a height and every corner of the house is captured in appropriate lines. The main character is absent here. However, by thoughtfully placing motifs such as a shamisen and hand drums, the artist admirably stages a flow of time that seems to imply that somebody had been there. The peculiar feeling of tension as if we are peeking into a stage in progress is a sign of Settai’s sensibility excelling in stage design. This may originally have been one of a series depicting the four seasons. Paintings of autumn and winter scenes also exist, of which reproductive prints were produced.