Yoshida

 Enclosure <Village>, 1962

This is a print based on the youth rebellion during 1960s Japan by Hokada Yoshida (1927-1995). Japanese student movements began during the Taishō Democracy (the period right after the Meji Period), and turned into activity after World War II.

Hokada’s father and mother were both leading artists in Tokyo in oils, watercolors, and woodblock prints. Hodaka's older brother became the heir to the Yoshida Studio, and worked in oils and woodblock prints (the Yoshida family is a famous family of artists). At end of the Second World War, he defied his father by becoming an artist and focused on the style abstraction which his father despised the most.

This photo shows an abstract view of a village. The village is being entrapped by different size stones. There appears to be four pillar stones on the very outside. I think that these pillars maybe the Four Pillars of Destiny which describes the four components creating a person's destiny or fate. There are also twelve smaller rocks that could be the Earthly Branches which give a system for computing time.  

The wood structure represents the village with the focus being on the black whirlpool. The print shows the village and the black whirlpool being enclosed by stone circles on both sides. Everything besides the objects (wood structure, whirlpool, and stones) is a darker grey. The grey circles to me represent people surrounding the village. The people surrounding the village are stone which signifies that they are older. The adults realize that they must contain what has been created before it is too late. The whirlpool signifies the youth because their frustration has been building up like raw energy and has become too big. There is also blue behind the black whirlpool which connotes good because the youth’s frustration is understandable, and there actions root from good intentions. The black in the whirlpool connotes the evil in the youth’s activism. The darkest grey signifies the mood in the village which is sorrowful and also represents narrow-mindedness.

The condition of this print is satisfactory. The lines are dull and sharp, and the colors both fit and go outside of the lines.  The colors are dull because they have faded somewhat. There are no creases, stains, and unintentional stray marks.

This print ultimately depicts the attempt of containment of the youth by the older generations. This print also tells of the artist’s life by defying what his father and family wants him to be.