Sadao Watanabe

born 1913, Japan, died 1996, Japan

Story from the Bible — The Last Supper

circa 1980

stencil print, dyed

Born in Tokyo, Sadao Watanabe was a much-revered Japanese printmaker, famous for his Biblical scenes depicted in the traditional folk-art style, mingei. After he lost his parents at a young age, Watanabe was invited to church by a neighbor and was baptized in 1930. He later survived tuberculosis and attributed his recovery to Christ, saying, “I owe my life to Christ and the gospel. My way of expressing my gratitude is to witness to my faith through the medium of biblical scenes.”

After seeing an exhibition of Serizawa Keisuke’s prints in 1937, Watanabe began studying printmaking and attended one of Keisuke’s classes a few years later. This would eventually lead to a strong student-teacher relationship between the two. He uses the katazome technique, a traditional Japanese stencil-dyeing method that uses soybean paste to create intricate patterns on crumpled paper.

Although Christianity was introduced to Japan in the mid-1500s, persecution and war throughout the centuries led to its decline. By the 20th century, around 1% of Japan was Christian, making Watanabe one of the few prominent, practicing Christians of his time. Watanabe fused Christianity with the mingei style that characterized traditional Buddhist prints, carving out a niche for himself by depicting biblical stories in that style. For example, in his version of The Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples are adorned in traditional Japanese clothing.

Generously given by Calvary parishioner Susanne Darnell