N A T U R A L   F R O N T  :  R y u k o G a k u s h a 

Yumeji Takehisa PROFILE

Yumeji was born Mojiro Takehisa in the village of Honjo, on the southeastern edge of Present-day Okayama prefecture. His father, Kikuzo, was a sake brewer and the house where Yumeji was born now forms an annex of a museum in his honor. As a young boy he enjoyed skething and when he entered Kobe middle school he became fascinated by exoticism. When his father proposed moving the family to the more promising southern island of Kyushu, Yumeji demurred and expressed his wish to go to Tokyo and become a painter. Parental opposition soon quashed that plan and as a compromise Yumeji was enrolled at the private Waseda school. While at school Yumeji had a wide circle of friends that included Christians and communists such as Shusui Kotoku. At the age of 19 he began painting portraits to supplement his allowance and at age 23 he married the widow Tamaki Kishi, who ran an art supplies store nearby the university. Tamaki modelled for Yumeji's early Portraits and his style of representing the female from soon Divorced after two years they came back together again, as they did many times in the following years, and eventually set up in business together. Yumeji's next love was the art student, Hikono Kasai, but she diet in 1920. A succession of women followed and included O-Yoh and Junko Yamada. Like most Tokyo residents, Yumeji suffered from the Great Earthquake in 1923 but hard work brought results and by 1931 Yumeji was able to journey to the United States to exhibit. Yumeji's art was not a big success in the United States and he soon folded his canvasses and travelled to Germany and Italy. Falling ill while abroad in 1933, Yumeji returned to Japan. After a brief rest he was once again travelling, this time to Taiwan, but his condition worsened and he came back and was admitted to the Fujimi Hiland Sanatorium where he died in 1934. Yumeji Takehisa is buried in the Zoshigaya cametery in Tokyo.

'The Ryuko Gakusha' Label

• Originality is important but it has to be universal.
  
• Creativity has to be with a basis.
  That creativity has to be so human that it accepts everyone.

With that in mind was the 'The Ryuko Gakusha' Label created. Universal interaction is everything in this modern society. Information bombards us from all sides, And we mistake it for our freedom. Schools and colleges give us very limited music education, Giving us a warped perception of music. Traditional ethnic music is forgotten and folk music has lost its past glory. People are only interested in music that has been commercialized. The world of Japanese music has become Westernised to a point that is not seen elsewhere in the world. In order to mend matters even a little, this site intends to introduce the best music from all over the world and to present the creative powers of Toshi Tsuchitori and Harue Momoyama.