Naga393 Bronze statue of Ninomiya Kinjiro

Bizen ware from the Okayama area, circa 1896 (Meiji Period), of the young boy known as Ninomiya Kinjiro (1787-1856). Statues of this sort were placed in almost every primary school in Japan until the end of WWII. Though this one is of ceramic, others are bronze. I have seen several others of stone, meant to be displayed outside on the grounds of a school.

Part farmer, part philosopher and part government administrator, Ninomiya Sontoku (1787-1856) advocated diligence, cooperation, deference to authority and thrift as ways of improving Japan's rural economy at the end of the feudal Tokugawa era. He revitalized agriculture by establishing credit associations to finance roads, aqueducts and housing, and he taught farmers to apply new methods of irrigation and to use better fertilizers. Between 1830 and 1843, Ninomiya and his disciples established the hotoku movement to promote morality, industry and economy.

 

The government attempted to maintain a rural social structure by encouraging hotoku after the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. During the 1930s, Ninomiya's teachings were reinterpreted as supportive of Japan's aggressive military expansion. Small statues, based on an iconographic portrayal of Ninomiya at about age 14 learning to read while carrying a load of firewood on his back, were placed in elementary schools throughout Japan. Though initially installed as reminders to children of the ideal of combining work with study, these statues became associated with the pre-war period and many were destroyed by the American Occupational forces after World War II. (From a website at: http://www.publicartinla.com/Downtown/Little_Tokyo/kinjiro.html

There is such a statue in Los Angeles, apparently, that attests to the hard work and diligence of early First Generation Issei immigrants to America.

Perhaps because of the commotion at the end of the war to get rid of all elements of pre-war militarism, this statue’s head has been lovingly repaired, as has the hand and the book. Width 16.5 cm., height 40.5 cm.

naga393 Statue of Ninomiya Kinjiro  $963.00 (shipping & packing available) We accept VISA and MASTERCARD See more at Richard Arts