Yasutake Funakoshi

Funakoshi Yasutake (Japanese舟 越 保 武, born December 7, 1912 in Ichinohe, Ninohe -gun; † 5 February 2002 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese sculptor.

Life and work

Funakoshi was born in the district of Ninohe in Iwate Prefecture in the north of Honshu and later attended high school in Morioka. There, the future painter Matsumoto Shunsuke was one of his classmates. In 1939 he was a member of the Shin Seisaku Kyōkai founded in 1936 (新 制作 协会, " Society for Contemporary works of art " ) and helped the department of sculpture to organize. In 1941 he opened together with Shunsuke, with whom he was friends until his untimely death in 1948, a joint exhibition in Morioka.

The sculpture Azalea, which showed Funakoshi at the 14th Exhibition of Shin Seisaku Kyōkai, was acquired in 1950 by the Ministry of Education. In the same year Funakoshi converted to Catholicism, who exercised a great influence on his work. So he created from 1958 to 1962 the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki and later the Hara -no- Jo (原 の 城, Christian Samurai ). For the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki, he was awarded the Takamura Kotaro - Prize (高 村 光 太郎 赏 受 赏). He also received in 1964 by Pope Paul VI. the Gregoriusorden. For Hara -no- Jo, he was awarded in 1972 with the Nakahara - Teijiro Prize (中原 悌 二郎 赏). The sculpture is now in the Vatican in Rome.

Funakoshi was from 1967 to 1980 professor at the Tōkyō Daigaku Geijutsu and 1980-183 at the Art School Tama. After his retirement in 1983 he became honorary professor at the Tōkyō Daigaku Geijutsu. In 1987 he suffered a stroke and as a result he now had to perform with his left hand, his other artistic work. He died in 2002 at the age of 89 years in Tokyo.

Other works include the sculpture Funakoshi's spring and the statue of Tatsuko. For spring, he received the Hasegawa Hitoshi Memorial Prize. This sculpture is located since 1977 on the Heimai Bridge in Kushiro. The statue of Tatsuko is a golden bronze statue, which is located on the shores of Lake Tazawa and there has been unveiled on 12 April 1968.

The sculptor Katsura Funakoshi is his son.