An original bronze sculpture created by Japanese master sculptor Fumio Asakura (1883-1964) that had been erected at Ueno Park just prior to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics but was removed in 2001, will be set up at the park again in July.
The 2.14-meter-tall sculpture, "Seitan" (Birth), a masterpieces from Asakura, whose production base was in Taito Ward, Tokyo, has been preserved at a warehouse of the ward-run Asakura Museum of Sculpture since 2001. The ward government has decided to put the sculpture again at the park in tandem with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer.
The Seitan sculpture will welcome worldwide visitors to Ueno for the Tokyo Games after a 56-year hiatus.
Asakura was born in the Ikedamura village (current Bungo-Ono City), Oita Prefecture, and studied at Tokyo Fine Arts School (presently known as Tokyo University of the Arts).
Asakura, who was a sculptor of naturalism who draws objects as they are, completed masterpieces, including "Hakamori" (Gravekeeper) that was designated as a national important cultural asset, and the "Statue of Shigenobu Okuma" at Waseda University in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
According to the museum, Asakura built his studio in the area that is currently Yanaka, Taito Ward, in 1907, and completed Seitan in 1946, the year following the end of World War II. It is said that the nude statue of a man striking a pose in which he is raising his left hand in the air came from the birth of Buddha and represents the Japanese people getting back to their feet to reconstruct the country in the aftermath of defeat in the war.
There are seven such bronze statues of the same shape in Japan.
Said Taiko Tobari, a senior researcher at the museum: "It's rare to see bronze statues of similar likeness crafted. That just shows how popular such statues were, and it can be said that Asakura himself had an affinity for them."
It was in July of 1964 that Seitan went on display at the park. Before the start of the Olympics that year, the then ward head asked Asakura to contribute to the area with a masterpiece that would represent the Japanese people when the capital welcomes foreign visitors.
Seitan was situated in the center of a fountain at the park entrance, and had long been adored by local residents as a symbol of the park.
However, the sculpture was removed with the fountain as they were a hindrance to the construction of an underground parking lot on the site that began in 2001. After the completion of the construction, the sculpture was not brought back to the park because of structural issues in the underground parking facility. Because of that, it has remained in storage at the museum warehouse for 19 years.
The ward government used the fact that Tokyo is hosting the 2020 Games to rehash consideration for bringing Seitan back to the park. As a result of its efforts, including repeated negotiations with the Tokyo metropolitan government -- which manages the park -- the ward government decided to bring the sculpture out of the warehouse in tandem with the Olympics. It will set up the statue about 100 meters west of the location where it once stood.
The fountain has not been rebuilt. The ward government allocated 13.84 million yen as its budget for fiscal 2020 mainly for the cost to bring back the sculpture.
Said an official in charge at the cultural promotion section of the ward government: "Local ward residents have been waiting for the revival of Seitan as a symbol of Ueno Park. Just as it did 56 years ago, I hope that tourists from other parts of Japan and abroad will gain a sense of the Japanese culture from this male statue."
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