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In December 1928 Sirén departed for East Asia via his usual route: over the Atlantic, across North America, and over the Pacific; he went first to Japan, and after a while he continued to Korea and then to China. In Japan, it was the early years of the Shôwa period (1926–89): the 1920s had been an intense period of appreciation of Western culture, and of interest in its materialism, individualism, and liberalism. This was to change, particularly after the economic crash on Wall Street in October 1929, when the mood would swing to the opposite direction with the military acquiring more political power. Western culture would come under attack and emphasis be directed to traditional Japanese values. Nothing of this, however, is visible in Sirén’s notes or letters while he was in East Asia until the spring of 1930. The change was not so abrupt that he would have noted it; in general, he seems not to have been inclined to follow politics very closely. In 1923 an earthquake had leveled most of Tokyo, and the city Sirén encountered now was a different place. Sirén arrived in Tokyo in early February at the latest, as the first date in his notebook for this journey is February 9, when he visited collector K. Takenouchi, whom he knew from his previous voyage when he had photographed pieces of sculpture in Takenouchi’s collection for his volumes on Chinese Sculpture. He met Hosokawa Moritatsu 細川護立 (1883–1970), a descendant of an old and respected samurai clan, which still held an important place on the political stage in Japan. The family collection accumulated over centuries by commission, purchases, and gifts included swords, armor, tea artifacts, No theatre costumes, Zen paintings, and Buddhist sculpture; two of the latter are scribbled down in the notebook in his characteristic short manner, in addition to few examples of ceramic tomb objects and metal ware. Maybe this was all there was to see during the visit, since the notes are silent on any paintings. Knowing Sirén’s preferences, Zen paintings would have delighted him. 8 Language Lessons and Curio Dealers 110 Enchanted by Lohans Businessman and art collector Nezu Kaichirô 根津嘉一郎 (1860–1940) is found next on the list. Two of the Buddhist stone sculptures Sirén saw can be identified as works which are included in the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts’ Catalogue of Selected Masterpieces: number 285 is described by Sirén in his notebook as “Standing bodhisattva with lotusflower and vase, large halo, legs broken. Probably Shansi [Shanxi] (Compare seated fig at Grenville Winthrop). Grey limestone with traces of colour. Pei Chi? [Bei Qi] 31 cm” and number 277 as “Stela. Seated Buddha in vajra mudra long mantle draped in ornamental folds over high square seat; at the sides of which guardian lions. Standing bodhisattvas and, in low relief, two bikshus. Large leaf shaped hats ornamented with 7 Buddhas and flames. Grayish sandy stone, traces of color. Corroded. H. 72 cm. Shensi [Shaanxi]?”1 Sirén’s dating of these pieces is not accurate: the first one is Northern Wei instead of his guess of Northern Qi (550–77) and the latter dates to the Sui dynasty. Similarly, as in connection with the Hosokawa collection, no indication is given that he may have seen some of the fine Southern Song paintings which belonged to Nezu. The last of his Tokyo contacts that he has noted down is his old acquaintance Masuda Takashi, who in 1918 had acted as one of Sirén’s first guides into the world of East Asian art and Japanese principles of art collecting.2 Obviously, it was vital to cultivate old relationships. After his stay in Tokyo, Sirén is known to have traveled to Kyoto where a date of February 24 is given for a visit to Moriya Kôzô 守屋孝蔵 (1876–1953), a prominent Kyoto lawyer whose collection was famous for its early sutras and bronze mirrors. Sirén did note down the collection of mirrors, which he thought was marvelous, estimating that there were around five hundred of them. His record of the sculptures in Moriya’s collection lists only Yungang heads, Tianlongshan sculptures, Longmen heads, and a seated Maitreya. “Mr. Fujii” must mean here businessman Fujii Zensuke 藤井善之助 (1873–1943), who established Fujii Yurinkan Museum in 1926 and whose collection contained Buddhist sculptures from the Yungang and Tianlongshan caves.3 Sirén must have spent quite a while studying that collection as he...

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