ST038 Kanazawa Station

Snow Treasure

Painting size: 16cm x 23cm

Framing size: 32.5cm x 42cm

A family of three has just disembarked at Kanazawa Station, passed through the Tsuzumi Gate, and is about to venture out into the city of Kanazawa. They are filled with anticipation, wondering what kind of city Kanazawa, the "Kaga Hyakumangoku" (one million koku of rice production), will be. That's the scene I drew.

The Tsuzumi Gate was designed to resemble the drum used in Kanazawa's traditional performing art, Noh (Kaga Hosho), and has become a symbol of Kanazawa Station. It has been selected as one of the most beautiful train stations in the world.

When I returned to Kanazawa from Hawaii 20 years ago and looked up at this Tsuzumi Gate, I was amazed, thinking, "How on earth did they have something like this?!" But now I think of it as an entrance to a time machine that takes you back to the Edo period. Beyond this Tsuzumi Gate, there's a fountain with a display board that tells you the current time.

I sketched everything except the Tsuzumi Gate in a rough, sketchy manner, especially the city view from the Tsuzumi Gate. I didn't want to fixate on a single image, so I made the unreasonable request to Kiyomi Kawasaki, who was in charge of framing, to make the faceless city view seem to be coming towards me. Ms. Kawasaki achieved this by using a color close to the building for the outer color of the double mat, and then added a touch of Kanazawa's character by making the frame and inner mat gold.