Baron Nishi and the Hell Courtesan
12” x 23”, 2024
In 2024, I spent a lot of time reading about the Meiji era, a chapter of world history in which Japan attempted to leap forward hundreds of years in a matter of decades after a long line of rulers who kept the country almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world for centuries. Many millions of people in Japan who grew up in small agrarian communities suddenly found themselves living in densely-packed urban industrial centers, with greater educational and economic opportunities, and social and religious reforms that somewhat liberalized a very restrictive society. But this progress came at a price, as Japan’s enormous growth fueled rapid military expansion and conquest which later metastasized into Imperial Japanese fascism. How did a period of such progress descend into such horrors? Which parts of our humanity can we retain while living in a system designed to dehumanize us, and which parts do we lose? I found a compelling surrogate for these ideas in Takeichi Nishi, often referred to by the nickname Baron Nichi. He was born to nobility and won a gold medal in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as an equestrian, making him a major celebrity in Hollywood and earning him the friendship of stars like Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. He also was a colonel in a notoriously brutal military force that committed countless unspeakable atrocities throughout the world, later dying in the Battle of Iwo Jima. I compare his story with the legend of the Hell Courtesan, who was similarly born into privilege but condemned to life in a brothel by enemies of her father. She wears a cloak that’s a portal to Hell, constantly reminded of her burden in life and those she has damned. As the Meiji era began when the US Navy forced Japan to open its shores during the 1853 Perry Expedition, the piece begins on the far left with an extraordinary silk embroidery depiction of the sea which took Hashio Kiyoshi over three years to create. After emerging from the middle panel of cherry blossoms symbolizing the era’s peak, Nishi descends into Hell through the courtesan’s cloak, as fascism can only bring oblivion.
12” x 23”, 2024
In 2024, I spent a lot of time reading about the Meiji era, a chapter of world history in which Japan attempted to leap forward hundreds of years in a matter of decades after a long line of rulers who kept the country almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world for centuries. Many millions of people in Japan who grew up in small agrarian communities suddenly found themselves living in densely-packed urban industrial centers, with greater educational and economic opportunities, and social and religious reforms that somewhat liberalized a very restrictive society. But this progress came at a price, as Japan’s enormous growth fueled rapid military expansion and conquest which later metastasized into Imperial Japanese fascism. How did a period of such progress descend into such horrors? Which parts of our humanity can we retain while living in a system designed to dehumanize us, and which parts do we lose? I found a compelling surrogate for these ideas in Takeichi Nishi, often referred to by the nickname Baron Nichi. He was born to nobility and won a gold medal in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as an equestrian, making him a major celebrity in Hollywood and earning him the friendship of stars like Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. He also was a colonel in a notoriously brutal military force that committed countless unspeakable atrocities throughout the world, later dying in the Battle of Iwo Jima. I compare his story with the legend of the Hell Courtesan, who was similarly born into privilege but condemned to life in a brothel by enemies of her father. She wears a cloak that’s a portal to Hell, constantly reminded of her burden in life and those she has damned. As the Meiji era began when the US Navy forced Japan to open its shores during the 1853 Perry Expedition, the piece begins on the far left with an extraordinary silk embroidery depiction of the sea which took Hashio Kiyoshi over three years to create. After emerging from the middle panel of cherry blossoms symbolizing the era’s peak, Nishi descends into Hell through the courtesan’s cloak, as fascism can only bring oblivion.