Okazaki Sessei (岡崎雪聲)
Sessei OKAZAKI (February 26, 1854 - April 16, 1921) was a founder or chaser who lived from the Meiji period to the Taisho period. Osao WATANABE, a sculptor, was his daughter's husband.
Brief Personal History
In 1854, he was born as a son of Sadaho OKAZAKI who was a tea kettle caster in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. His real name was Shojiro. After obtaining techniques as a caster, he moved to Tokyo at the age of 21 to learn casting techniques. He became a disciple of Chokichi SUZUKI and learned the art of chasing under him who was a caster as well as a Teishitsu Gigeiin (Imperial art expert).
His work won him the second place prize at the Paris World Exposition in 1889. At the same time, as he became famous for his study of ancient Buddhist statues around the country from the viewpoint of casting, he later became acquainted with Tenshin OKAKURA and became a teacher at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, Department of Casting in 1890. The statue of "Shukongoshin" (Vajrapani) created in 1892 was selected as a work to be submitted to the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and he continued energetically creating his works and became a professor of casting in 1896. His name was on the list of the Nihon Bijutsuin (The Japan Art Institute) and brought up many chasers such as Hotsuma KATORI and Shinobu TSUDA. His grave is located at Seirin-ji Temple in Mukogaoka, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo.
Casting
Not only his chasing techniques but also his casting techniques were rated highly, and Sessei was involved in casting many works of sculptors. His works included the statue of Takamori SAIGO whose model was made by Koun TAKAMURA, the parapet sculpture of Nihonbashi Bridge (Chuo Ward, Tokyo) by Osao WATANABE, the statue of Takeo HIROSE, god of war, and the statue of Nichiren shonin (the Venerable Nichiren) by Kyuichi TAKEUCHI, which are all famous. In particular, to create the statue of Masashige KUSUNOKI at the outer garden of the Imperial Court, he went to America by himself at his own expense to obtain techniques required for casting a large statue. It was also known that he performed casting by a decomposition casting process for the first time in Japan.