Bidou Yamaguchi
Encyclopedia
, a master Noh
mask carver in the Hōshō tradition, was born Yamaguchi Hiroki on February 28, 1970, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka
, on the island of Kyūshū
in Japan.
As an outstanding figure in the younger generation, Bidou illustrates how this ancient Japanese art is being both perpetuated and renewed.
On a trip to the United States in 1991 Hiroki visited museums in major cities, some of which had large collections of Asian art. He was attracted to Japanese Noh masks. Fascinated by these old hand-carved masks and their history as part of an ancient art form, he decided to learn how to carve such masks. (Interview) Back in Japan, before talking to any master carver, he began work on his first mask, one called okina, an old man mask for one of earliest characters in Noh tradition. (Noh)
There are five major traditions for Noh drama: Kanzu, Hōshō, Kamparu, Kita, and Kongō. Each school has its own style for masks, and each school also has an archive in which the oldest examples of its masks are preserved. (Noh)
Bidou has studied the Hōshō tradition by going to the Hōshō Noh Gakudo in Tokyo, a school and theater with its own archives of antique masks, some of which are about 500 years old. After having carefully studied a particular mask, Bidou chooses an appropriate block of Japanese cypress wood (hinoki), one that has cured for about a century. On it he first draws guidelines, and then begins to shape the piece using traditional Japanese woodcarving tools. (AsiaAlive) The blades of the knives and chisels are made of three layers of steel, just like renowned ancient Japanese swords. In smoothing the surface of the mask for the final time, Bidou never uses sandpaper, but only the sharp edge of his chisel. That surface is then coated with many layers of lacquer, each layer requiring several weeks to dry. The final procedure is to simulate signs of wear and old age on the mask's surface. (Interview)
in Japan were being created at about the same time as oil portraits of women were being painted by famous artists in Europe, Bidou began sculpting a series of these Western faces in the form of Noh masks. The broad range of artists referenced include: Leonardo da Vinci
, Michelangelo
, Francisco Goya
, Diego Velázquez
, Sandro Botticelli
, Johannes Vermeer
, Amedeo Modigliani
, Edvard Munch
, and Gustav Klimt
. (Sauer) A fascinating dialogue between Eastern and Western beauty has been the result. For example, he can place his Mona Lisa
mask next to his ko-omote mask, the traditional Noh mask for a young woman, and the dialogue is apparent. (Sauer) Bidou says, "by synthesizing both traditions, I create three-dimensional ‘personae’ that breathe new life into these iconic faces and seek to suggest a fresher fusion of Eastern and Western cultures." (Bidou)
Bidou has lectured widely and has demonstrated and displayed both his traditional and newest work in galleries, universities, and museums in Japan, as well as the United States. His masks are in collections at Nihon University
, Hōshō Noh Gakudo in Tokyo (Hōshō), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
, the Target Corporation
Headquarters in Minneapolis, as well as in many private collections. Bidou also teaches sculpture in Tokyo. (Bidou) He is married to artist Ayomi Yoshida
.
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
mask carver in the Hōshō tradition, was born Yamaguchi Hiroki on February 28, 1970, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...
, on the island of Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
in Japan.
As an outstanding figure in the younger generation, Bidou illustrates how this ancient Japanese art is being both perpetuated and renewed.
Discovery
After attending public school in Fukuoka, Hiroki enrolled in Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo, from which he graduated in 1991. (Bidou, see Sources, below)On a trip to the United States in 1991 Hiroki visited museums in major cities, some of which had large collections of Asian art. He was attracted to Japanese Noh masks. Fascinated by these old hand-carved masks and their history as part of an ancient art form, he decided to learn how to carve such masks. (Interview) Back in Japan, before talking to any master carver, he began work on his first mask, one called okina, an old man mask for one of earliest characters in Noh tradition. (Noh)
There are five major traditions for Noh drama: Kanzu, Hōshō, Kamparu, Kita, and Kongō. Each school has its own style for masks, and each school also has an archive in which the oldest examples of its masks are preserved. (Noh)
Apprenticeship
Hiroki was drawn to the Hōshō tradition. He was introduced to master carver Gendou Ogawa, who is a Living National Treasure in Japan. Hiroki showed him the okina mask he had carved. (Bidou; Japan) The master was surprised that a person could - by himself - carve a mask that so closely emulated the oldest examples of that mask. He accepted Hiroki as his apprentice. After five years, about half the usual time, Gendou awarded him the status of "master carver" and gave him the artist name "Bidō." (AsiaAlive) The name is constructed of two parts, "Bi" from Bishamonton, the God of War, and "dou" meaning "stack of wood." It indicates that Bidou could attack a large pile of old wood like the frenzied God of War, and quickly carve it into masks. (Interview) Bidou (as he spells his name in the English-speaking world) no longer uses the name given him at birth.Bidou has studied the Hōshō tradition by going to the Hōshō Noh Gakudo in Tokyo, a school and theater with its own archives of antique masks, some of which are about 500 years old. After having carefully studied a particular mask, Bidou chooses an appropriate block of Japanese cypress wood (hinoki), one that has cured for about a century. On it he first draws guidelines, and then begins to shape the piece using traditional Japanese woodcarving tools. (AsiaAlive) The blades of the knives and chisels are made of three layers of steel, just like renowned ancient Japanese swords. In smoothing the surface of the mask for the final time, Bidou never uses sandpaper, but only the sharp edge of his chisel. That surface is then coated with many layers of lacquer, each layer requiring several weeks to dry. The final procedure is to simulate signs of wear and old age on the mask's surface. (Interview)
Present Work
Initially Bidou created many of the traditional Noh masks. Recently he broadened the range of his work to include other astonishing mask styles, such as his "persona" or Western style mask. Realizing that masks in the medieval Muromachi periodMuromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...
in Japan were being created at about the same time as oil portraits of women were being painted by famous artists in Europe, Bidou began sculpting a series of these Western faces in the form of Noh masks. The broad range of artists referenced include: Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
, Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
, Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
, Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
, Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
, and Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
. (Sauer) A fascinating dialogue between Eastern and Western beauty has been the result. For example, he can place his Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa is a portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is a painting in oil on a poplar panel, completed circa 1503–1519...
mask next to his ko-omote mask, the traditional Noh mask for a young woman, and the dialogue is apparent. (Sauer) Bidou says, "by synthesizing both traditions, I create three-dimensional ‘personae’ that breathe new life into these iconic faces and seek to suggest a fresher fusion of Eastern and Western cultures." (Bidou)
Bidou has lectured widely and has demonstrated and displayed both his traditional and newest work in galleries, universities, and museums in Japan, as well as the United States. His masks are in collections at Nihon University
Nihon University
Nihon University is the largest university in Japan. Akiyoshi Yamada, the minister of justice, founded Nihon Law School in October 1889....
, Hōshō Noh Gakudo in Tokyo (Hōshō), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
, the Target Corporation
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
Headquarters in Minneapolis, as well as in many private collections. Bidou also teaches sculpture in Tokyo. (Bidou) He is married to artist Ayomi Yoshida
Ayomi Yoshida
is the youngest artist in the Japanese Yoshida family of artists. She is best known at the present time for her room-sized installations of woodchips that have been created for galleries and museums in Japan and the United States...
.
Sources
- Bidou web site at http://www.Bidou-yamaguchi.com
- "Bidou Yamaguchi: Carved Masks," Jane Sauer Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- "Bidou Yamaguchi: Noh Masks and New Masks," AsiaAlive, Asian Art Museum, of San *Francisco, June 1-June 30, 2006; also web site at http://www.asianart.org/asiaalive.htm
- "Bidou Interview," Prof. Eugene Skibbe, Augsburg College, March 5, 2007, ms
- Hōshō Noh Gakudo, Tokyo, web site at http://www.hosho.or.jp
- Japan Arts Council, Noh and Kyogen at http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/noh/en/
- Twenty Plays of Nô Theatre, Donald Keene, ed., Columbia University Press, 1970
See also
- NohNoh, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
- Masks
- Theatre of JapanTheatre of JapanTraditional Japanese theatre includes kabuki, noh and bunraku.-Traditional form of theater:There are four major forms of traditional Japanese theater that are famous around the world. These are Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki, and Bunraku, or puppet theater....
- Yoshida Family ArtistsYoshida family artistsThe Yoshida family of artists is an important line of Japanese artists that reaches unbroken from the early 19th century to the present.-Overview:...
- Ayomi YoshidaAyomi Yoshidais the youngest artist in the Japanese Yoshida family of artists. She is best known at the present time for her room-sized installations of woodchips that have been created for galleries and museums in Japan and the United States...