About a 15-minute walk from Palaceside Building at Takebashi, while wandering around Kanda Station I found a gentle-looking beauty in a hat standing in a planter near the Sudacho intersection= photo top. I usually pass right by, but I stopped for once and read on the pedestal "Hana-goromo, Akira Tanaka." Dated 1988.
Tanaka was born in Toyama Prefecture in 1929. A leading modern Japanese sculptor who served as a Japan Art Exhibition council member and Japan Sculpture Association auditor, he also has nearby a statue of a boy and girl leaning together titled "Ken'yaka ni"= photo right =. It stands just outside the Nihonbashi-side exit of Kanda Station, so more people may know this one.
Both have slightly plump cheeks and lovely gestures. The gaze feels a little lonely — apparently a hallmark of Tanaka's work.
Search online and auction records for "Hana-goromo" keep turning up on Yahoo Auctions and the like. The real piece is nearly life-size, but what appears for sale is smaller — 53.5 cm including the stone base, 12.8 kg. The underside bears the signature "T.AKIRA'88," and it comes in a fine wooden box with a certificate of authenticity
— a splendid piece= photo left. Apparently sold together with the main work.
By the way, Hana-goromo stands in front of the Manso Building. This building housed Manso Fruit Parlor, one of Tokyo's three great fruit parlors alongside Ginza "Sembikiya" and Shinjuku "Takano." Founded in 1846 (Koka 3), with more than 160 years of history, it stood on prime land where Chuo-dori from Kanda toward Ueno crosses Yasukuni-dori and was always bustling — but it closed last March for seismic reasons. Fans reportedly lined up at the end for one last taste of the famous hotcakes. Shops in Ginza and Marunouchi reportedly closed around the same time. The young lady's slightly sorrowful expression oddly echoes that story of a venerable institution.