Teisha bridge and the Edo-period Rinshunkaku villa, Sankeien, Yokohama.

This Day in Freer History: April 20, 1907

“A beautiful world”  

 On April 20, 1907, Charles Lang Freer was in Yokohama, Japan, visiting his friend and fellow collector Hara Tomitaro. Delighted beyond measure with Hara’s estate and his remarkable collection of Japanese art, Freer took to his diary to remind himself that on that day he was in “a beautiful world.”  

Locomotive Along the Yokohama Waterfront. Utagawa Hiroshige III (1843–1894). Japan, Edo period, 1871. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Gift of the Daval Foundation, from the Collection of Ambassador and Mrs. William Leonhart, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S1991.151.

At the time of Freer’s 1907 visit to Hara’s estate atop San-no-tani (“the third valley”)halfcentury had passed since Japan had opened itself to the world after centuries of self-imposed isolation. Everything in Japan was rapidly changing, from the urban landscape to cultural and economic hierarchies. Indeed, in the early 1900s new centers of financial and cultural power were blossoming around the world, from Yokohama to Detroit, Michigan. Both Hara and Freer were active participants in shaping this new world, simultaneously cultivating a passion for the arts, past and present.  

This Buddhist sanctum of the former Tōkeiji temple was acquired and moved to Hara’s Sankeien in 1907. The sanctum continued to be used for Buddhist practice in its new location. Image via Sankeien.

Like Freer, Hara was a successful businessman. As Yokohama’s leading silk merchant, he could afford to build an impressive art collection.

Undated photograph of Charles Lang Freer posing with Hara Tomitaro (center) at the San-no-tani estate, Yokohama. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Archives, FSA A.01 12.01.6.1.

The affinity between the two connoisseurs went further. Hara, like Freer, was also happy to open his home and show his possessions to others, then an uncommon practice among private collectorsTheir commitment to sharing extended far beyond this.

For Freer, 1906 marked the formal acceptance of his bequest to the Smithsonian; for Hara, it was the beginning of his policy to keep the garden he had built on his estate, Sankeien, open to the public daily.

There, visitors could enjoy pagodas, bridges, and other architectural structures from various historical periods and regions of JapanHara had either acquired and moved them to his estate or he had them reconstructed in his garden.  

Recognizing a kindred spirit, Freer saw his visit with Hara as a chance to delight in his friend’s treasures and to deepen his own understanding of Japanese art. The visit was part and parcel of a web of visits and gifts that amounted to an unofficial form of cultural diplomacy within a network of Japanese, American, and European art dealers and collectors.   

But affinities also had limits. Freer did not share the enthusiasm of Hara and their common friend Ernest Fenollosa for Nihonga, the contemporaneous neotraditional Japanese painting. Instead, as a collector, Freer focused his attention on older Japanese paintings and ceramics. 

Hara Tomitaro gave this handscroll to Charles Lang Freer in 1906. Detail, A poem-composing contest among various artisans. Japan, Nanbokucho period, 1333–92. Handscroll; ink and color on paper. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Gallery of Art, F1906.4.

To honor Freer’s interestsHara presented the American collector with a fourteenth-century handscroll of a poem-composing contest among various artisans. With its layered references to courtly traditions and class satire, the painting was a meaningful gift that expressed Hara’s acknowledgment of Freer’s growing familiarity with Japanese art and culture. In addition, the air of collegiality among the artisans mirrored the budding friendship between the two men

Sonia C. Coman-Ernstoff

Sonia Coman-Ernstoff is the Audience Engagement Strategist at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art. Sonia has a B.A. from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University, where she wrote a dissertation on Japonisme, and wide-ranging experience in strategic planning. Sonia is the author of peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on the history of collecting and identity formation in the creative industries.

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