2. His Life, Part One — Childhood and the Dream of Painting

Sasaki Shodo — born Bunzo Sasaki — came into the world in 1882, to a poor family in Kawaharada, here on Sado Island. His parents were honest and hardworking, and their integrity was passed on naturally to the young Bunzo. Small in stature and never robust, Bunzo nevertheless always excelled at his studies. His greatest joy was at the pawnshop where he was apprenticed: there, he would gaze for hours at old calligraphy and paintings. In those quiet hours spent face to face with the old works, a strong desire gradually took root in his heart: "I, too, want to become someone who paints." The longing he embraced as a boy would become the starting point of the artist Sasaki Shodo. Displayed here is a kakizome — a first calligraphy of the New Year — that Shodo wrote at the age of fifteen. As you can see, even then, both his writing and his painting showed a maturity beyond his years. At eighteen, he went up to Tokyo and placed himself under the painter Nomura Bunkyo, but severe nearsightedness forced him to abandon the path of a painter. It was then, returning disheartened to his home island of Sado, that Bunzo met Miyata Rando the First, a master of lost-wax casting. That encounter set Bunzo on his way as the artist Sasaki Shodo. Like a fish returned to water, Shodo immersed himself deeply in the world of metal casting. After studying under Miyata Rando and turning to casting, Shodo later went back to Tokyo. There, he eagerly absorbed Western design, including Art Nouveau, and fused it with his own sensibility as he stepped into a world of form all his own. At the Imperial Art Exhibition, the Teiten, his Cast-Silver Peacock Incense Burner and his Gilt-Bronze Phoenix Ornament were highly acclaimed, each receiving a Special Selection. His works were also purchased by the Imperial Household Ministry, and Shodo's art was officially recognized as art of national caliber.