Ame no Akamon 1967 Shiro Kasamatsu (met dank aan Artelino)
This woodblock print is made by Shiro Kasamatsu in 1967. Almost ten years later I often walked through the red gate just like the man with the umbrella. The grey concrete building just behind the gate is the Economic Faculty of the University of Tokyo (Tokyo Daigaku), where I spent two years of my life as a researcher. Kasamatsu made at least five prints of the Red Gate. The eldest campus of the University of Tokyo (Hongo campus) is located on a former estate of the Maeda family, an important ally of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Red gate dates from 1615 just like the old garden with the heartshaped pond (sanshiro) on the Hongo Campus The garden was a gift from the Shogun to Maeda Toshitsune as a token of gratitude for his loyal service. The gate is depicted by many Japanese artists. Kasamatsu made more woodblock prints of the beautifull sites of the Hongo Campus(see left). If I look at them, old memories inevitably revive again. I think it is time to paint my own Red Gate.