Children view the exhibition

Tokyo's Museum of Maritime Science is hosting an exhibition of maritime art entitled Ships revived: A 35-year Retrospective of Kenzo Tanii. The exhibition of the 72-year old painter's work will prove irresistible to maritime buffs, and features ships that took part in Japanese missions to Tang-dynasty China, the Edo-period Kanrin Maru; the Soya icebreaker, which was the first Japanese ship to take part in an Antarctic research expedition, and the battleship Yamato, among other historic vessels.

An interesting picture

The exhibition features more than forty of Tanii's paintings of ships. These illustrations depict not only the ships themselves but also the spirit and customs of their times.

After graduating from the Nihon University College of Art, Tanii worked in the advertising department of a department store before becoming a freelance illustrator. Since then, he has pursued a wide range of activities, including the illustration of history books.

Ships are his favorite theme, and experts in the publishing industry say his illustrations are even more realistic and detailed than photographs.

In addition to the works mentioned above, the exhibition also has works that depict the battle between the Russian Baltic Fleet and the Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War. One elementary-school student visiting the museum as part of a social-studies class commented that the daimyo’s brightly lacquered river boat with its splendid roof was her favorite.

Nobuyuki Kobori, manager of the art department of the Museum of Maritime Science, says, “This exhibition was planned to give many people a chance to see Tanii’s work and develop an interest in the sea and in ships.”

The museum has been open since 1974, and since then has had an impressive array of maritime exhibits, such as the permanent installation, next to the museum, of the Soya, which was Japan's first expedition vessel to the Antarctic, and the Yotei-maru, a ferry that used to run between Japan's main island of Honshu and its northern-most island-prefecture of Hokkaido.

The Yamato battleship heads out on a test cruise

A luxurious roofed river boat used in the daimyo’s periodical trip to Edo