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Kenichi Shigeoka Chronological record | |
| :Ken-ichi Shigeoka top page>Chronological record |
| 日本語 |
| Ken-ichi Shigeoka |  Kinta Shigeoka(father)  Fuku Shigeoka(mather)Movie; Kinta at work |
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| Meiji 28 (1895) | Kenichi was born on 19 September in Asakusa, Tokyo. He was the eldest of five sons | |
| Taisho 9 (1920) | In February, the Shingeki Association (Minshu-za
Company) premiered The Blue Bird. Kenichi worked as a stage setting design assistant. Haibara, Japanese paper
specialist commissioned him to produce
mural and other work for them. |
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| Taisho 11 (1922) | In March, he graduated from the Japanese Painting Department of Tokyo School of Fine Arts (currently
known as Tokyo University of the Arts). In April, he joined the interior department of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and design office at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo. In Mayhe began studying under Koka Yamamura, a member of the Japan Art Institute. |
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| Taisho 12 (1923) | The building of
Imperial Hotel completed andFrank Lloyd Wright's office closed. In September he started a part time job at the Hotel, looking after the aesthetic matters in general including maintenance and interior refurbishment. It was around this time he met ‘Baron’ Kishichiro Okura, and also started the stage setting design work. He designed a wide range of stage settings in various theatrical stages in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata and others, working for both professional and amateur theatrical companies, until around 1950. |
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| Taisho 14(1925) |
  Frontispiece 1 Frontispiece 2 Indian Fairy Tales (published by Kinran-sha) |
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| Taisho 15(1926) |
 SketchesHaritsukeshigezaemon(published by Shincho-sha) |
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| Showa 19 (1944) |
He was dismissed from his positions for the WWII.. |
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| Showa 20 (1945) |
As the war ended, he started working for the Kawana Hotel. He was in charge of the aesthetics of the hotel which was requisitioned at the time and continued the job after its release. In the meantime, he worked for the aesthetics of the Akakura Kanko Hotel, too. |
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| Showa 23(1948) | 
Excerpt from the 10 November Mainichi newspaper:
‘The Hall of Dreams’ for Queen Elizabeth. Christmas Cards depicting points of interest in Japan Christmas cards designed by a Japanese artist will be sent to prominent figures abroad such as Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill. The sender is the Lieutenant General Robertson, and the artist who painted the pictures for the cards is Mr Kenichi Shigeoka, known for his stage setting design work. Mr Shigeoka came up with more than one idea but opted for the design depicting various points of interests in Japan in watercolour. He made these beautiful Christmas cards and presented them to L.G.Robertson on 6 November at Kawana Hotel where he was staying. The one with the painting of Yumedono (The Hall of Dreams)* is going to be sent to Queen Elizabeth II, who is due to have her first Christmas as a mother.
*Photo:
Card with The Hall of Dreams painting |
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| Showa 29 (1954) |  Tokyo Dayori (monthly magazine) July ’54 issue. Cover illustration was painted at the request of Hitoshi Ashida, the magazine’s chief editor and his friend. |
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| Showa 37(1962) |
In preparation of the construction of Hotel Okura, he was appointed as a member of the hotel’s Design Committee (Saburo Mizoguchi, Kenichi Shigeoka, Tsutomu Hiroi, Kiyomichi Iwata, Jiro Agata) and his idea was used for the interior, furniture and equipment. Following that, he stayed in charge of the hotel’s aesthetics including interior design. He also kept the position of aesthetics advisor at Kawana Hotel, Akakura Kanko Hotel and Hotel Okura Niigata for the rest of his life. |
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| Showa 48(1973) | While keeping these advisory work, he also took the position of the Chief Curator the Okura Museum of Art, and wrote the ‘Kansho (appreciation)’ column which introduced the work of art owned by Okura Cultural Foundation in ‘Aoi (hollyhock)’ ,Hotel Okura’s quarterly magazine. | |
| Showa 63(1988) | He died on 13 October | |
| Sketch collection | ||
 Photo: Sketching at Imperial Hotel Kamikochi. |
 View from his studio (Kamiosaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo) |
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