Sumio KAWAKAMI Artwork Details

 
 

Detailed Description

From 1543 that Portuguese came to Japan, so many western culture and products were brought to Japan by Portuguese/Spanish. For they often came via Macao/Manila, ‘Namban’, the word which had originally meant South-Barbarian / South-Asia, got have the meaning ‘Portuguese/Spanish’ in 16C. This print is titled ‘Namban-Ryori < Namban Cuisine> , however we can’t distinguish at all what kind of food or dishes on the table. What Kawakami would like to show is not the new Japanese dishes like Tempura, that the Europeans brought to Japan, but a humorous dinner scene. 1 european(green clothes) invited 4 Japanese men to dinner: the Japanese of Kimono & traditional hair style, ‘Chonmage’ are sitting on the chair and drinking wine. The Japanese look so relaxed and wear casual Kimono soo loosely, in spite of unusual situation. In stead, the European wears formal wear and looked somehow nervous.
 

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