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Kakuzô was the son of Okakura Kan'emon, a wealthy silk merchant from [[Fukui prefecture]]. Educated chiefly in English-language schools in [[Yokohama]], where he was brought up, he would later attend [[Tokyo Imperial University]], where many of his teachers and mentors, [[Ernest Fenollosa]] chief among them, were Westerners. Okakura and Fenollosa would maintain a close relationship for many years. In university, Okakura focused in his studies upon politics, and other subjects which might lead him to a successful career as a government official, in accordance with his father's desires; he pursued studies of art as a hobby, on the side.

Kakuzô was the son of Okakura Kan'emon, a wealthy silk merchant from [[Fukui prefecture]]. Educated chiefly in English-language schools in [[Yokohama]], where he was brought up, he would later attend [[Tokyo Imperial University]], where many of his teachers and mentors, [[Ernest Fenollosa]] chief among them, were Westerners. Okakura and Fenollosa would maintain a close relationship for many years. In university, Okakura focused in his studies upon politics, and other subjects which might lead him to a successful career as a government official, in accordance with his father's desires; he pursued studies of art as a hobby, on the side.

Upon graduation, he was made the head of the music division of the [[Ministry of Education]], but he did not remain long in this position. In [[1886]], he accompanied Fenollosa to the US and a number of major cities in Europe, on a one-year art tour. Returning to Japan, in [[1888]] he helped found the ''[[Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko|Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkô]]''; he later became president of the school, but was forced to leave amid scandal in [[1897]], at which time he founded the Japan Fine Arts Academy.

Upon graduation, he was made the head of the music division of the [[Ministry of Education]], but he did not remain long in this position. In [[1886]], he accompanied Fenollosa to the US and a number of major cities in Europe, on a one-year art tour. Alongside Fenollosa, Okakura was an important supporter of the work of artists such as [[Kano Hogai|Kanô Hôgai]] and Yokoyama Taikan, and the ''Nihonga'' movement more generally. In helping to select objects to purchase or otherwise obtain for the Boston collection, he and Fenollosa played a major role in establishing what remains the core of the Japanese art historical canon today.

 

Returning to Japan, in [[1888]] he helped found the ''[[Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko|Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkô]]''; he later became president of the school in 1890, when Fenollosa returned to the US, but Okakura was forced to leave amid scandal in [[1897]], following a dispute with the [[Ministry of Education]]. He then established his own academy, the ''[[Nihon Bijutsuin]]'' (Japan Fine Arts Academy) along with a number of his followers and colleagues.

 

The following year, [[Yokoyama Taikan]] painted and exhibited a work entitled ''[[Kutsugen]]'', today in the collection of [[Itsukushima Shrine]], which depicts the Chinese poet Qu Yuan (act. 3rd c. BCE) as a symbol or metaphor for Okakura's situation. By [[1906]], Okakura and those students who remained loyal to him were forced by their meager financial situation to leave Tokyo and to establish themselves in the rural fishing village of Izura, in [[Ibaraki prefecture]]. Despite this serious setback and defeat, Okakura continued to be seen as a leader of the ''nihonga'' movement, a torch which would be picked up and carried by various of his students and followers after his death in 1913.

In the last decade of his life, Okakura became a fixture in the art world and upper class circles of Boston society, developing a particularly close relationship with [[Isabella Stewart Gardner]]. While serving as head of the Asiatic Art section at the Museum of Fine Arts, he frequently led [[tea ceremony|tea ceremonies]] at the Gardner house, Fenway Court, and later gave his tea set to Mrs. Gardner as a gift.

In the last decade of his life, Okakura became a fixture in the art world and upper class circles of Boston society, developing a particularly close relationship with [[Isabella Stewart Gardner]]. While serving as head of the Asiatic Art section at the Museum of Fine Arts, he frequently led [[tea ceremony|tea ceremonies]] at the Gardner house, Fenway Court, and later gave his tea set to Mrs. Gardner as a gift.

Through his writings, talks, and other activities, he established a reputation for himself as one of the chief experts on Asian art and culture. Though he is known to have worn Western-style formal suits in Japan, he made a point of always appearing in public in the West in Japanese kimono. Though most Japanese at this time saw Western clothing as elements of a modern society, and kimono as backwards and provincial, in the eyes of Americans, Okakura's kimono lent him a greater air of authenticity. Dressed in kimono, he was seen by Americans as more in touch with his own culture, and someone who could more rightly be seen as an authority on it.

Through his writings, talks, and other activities, he established a reputation for himself as one of the chief experts on Asian art and culture. Though he is known to have worn Western-style formal suits in Japan, he made a point of always appearing in public in the West in Japanese kimono. Though most Japanese at this time saw Western clothing as elements of a modern society, and kimono as backwards and provincial, in the eyes of Americans, Okakura's kimono lent him a greater air of authenticity. Dressed in kimono, he was seen by Americans as more in touch with his own culture, and someone who could more rightly be seen as an authority on it.

He also hired [[Tomita Kojiro|Tomita Kôjirô]], one of his students, to aid in translation and research efforts at the Boston Museum. Tomita would go on to become curator in 1931.

He also hired [[Tomita Kojiro|Tomita Kôjirô]], one of his students, to aid in translation and research efforts at the Boston Museum. Tomita would go on to become curator in 1931.

==References==

==References==

*Chen, Constance J.S. "Transnational Orientals: Scholars of Art, National Discourses, and the Question of Intellectual Authority." ''Journal of Asian American Studies''. 9:3 (October 2006). pp215-242.

*Chen, Constance J.S. "Transnational Orientals: Scholars of Art, National Discourses, and the Question of Intellectual Authority." ''Journal of Asian American Studies''. 9:3 (October 2006). pp215-242.

[[Category:Meiji Period]]

[[Category:Meiji Period]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]

[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]

[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]