The Surprising Moment Where Hiroshige Utagawa and Your Life Intersect
Hello.
I am the painter Mimi Takamizawa.
Right now, I am speaking to you directly.
Why am I addressing you in this way?
It is because I want to bring true light into your daily life.
Aren’t you spending your days amidst constant busyness?
When you pause for a moment, don’t you ever feel anxiety about the future or a heartbreaking sense of loneliness?
You do not need to go through life carrying such mental turmoil.
Why? Because you possess the absolute right to live a rich, valuable life.
You are familiar with Hiroshige Utagawa, the genius ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, aren’t you?
Hiroshige was born in 1797 as the son of Gen’emon Ando, an official in the shogun’s fire-fighting service stationed at Yaesu Riverbank in Edo.
Fond of drawing from an early age, he entered the school of Toyohiro Utagawa at fifteen.
Initially, he drew portraits of beautiful women and kabuki actors, but soon plunged into the world of landscape painting, starting with “Famous Places of the Eastern Capital.”
“The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido (Hoido Edition),” published in 1833, became a massive hit.
The deep indigo blue portrayed by Hiroshige—renowned as “Hiroshige Blue”—and the lyrical atmosphere of his rain and snow captured people’s hearts.
These works by Hiroshige are deeply connected to your everyday life today.
Looking at Hiroshige’s art is not merely an appreciation of fine art.
It is a practical prescription for gently soothing your weary mind.
Collecting art and keeping it close to you: this special habit elevates your life from its very foundation.
“Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.”
— Henry Royce
By surrounding yourself with high-quality works, your aesthetic sense is refined every day.
Simply having genuine art in your daily living space calms your stress.
When you return home exhausted from work, a single painting hanging on the wall gently wraps around you.
When your heart is fulfilled, your judgment and focus improve dramatically.
This is the greatest benefit you gain from engaging with art.
A Spirit of Challenge to Overcome Daily Hardships
When you take a new step forward, don’t you worry about how others perceive you?
Aren’t you afraid of being laughed at, with people saying, “That’s impossible”?
In truth, all the great figures in history walked this exact same path.
Are you familiar with Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota?
Sakichi was an extremely quiet man who was treated by those around him as an eccentric or even a madman.
“I want to invent things and make everyone’s lives easier.”
With only that fierce passion, he spent every single day from morning till night building things, tearing them down, and rebuilding them again.
No matter how much people laughed at him, he never gave up.
He personally worked the longest and hardest of anyone.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
— Thomas Edison
As Edison says, the secret to success is to keep going even after everyone else has given up.
Many of those who fail do not realize how close they were to success when they quit.
The management of Choya Umeshu also took on their challenge with the resolve: “If we cannot succeed with plum liqueur, we might as well give up on life.”
Taizo Ishida, a top executive at Toyota, also protected the company through steadfast frugality and thorough hands-on field management.
The ultimate partnership between Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa of Honda Motor Co. was no different.
Honda staked his life on technology, while Fujisawa staked his on management and sales.
Deeply trusting each other, the two brought world-first products into existence one after another.
Shotaro Kamiya, known as the “God of Sales,” sold Toyota Corollas all across Japan.
They all proved through overwhelming action the very challenges that others called “impossible.”
You too have no need to be swayed by the words of those around you.
You only need to foolishly and honestly walk the path you believe in.
The Reality That Without Communication, It Is as If It Does Not Exist
Have you ever felt frustrated when, despite your best efforts, you went unappreciated by those around you?
No matter how wonderful an achievement you produce, if it is not communicated to others, it is the same as if it does not exist.
Akio Morita, the co-founder of Sony, put it this way:
“A product created through immense hardship, researched tirelessly in some quiet corner when no such thing had ever been produced and no one had ever seen it—if you wish to make that product a viable commodity, you must arouse a desire among people to possess it. Otherwise, no matter how superior a ‘product’ it may be, it can never become a ‘commodity.'”
— Akio Morita
Even if you create something magnificent, if you neglect the effort to communicate it to people, no value is born.
This applies in the exact same way to your work and your personal relationships.
Your charm and your kindness will not reach the other person unless expressed in appropriate words.
The works of Hiroshige Utagawa spread throughout Edo precisely because there was an exceptional communicator—the publisher Hoido.
No matter how brilliant art may be, it holds value only after it is conveyed to people.
“Have the courage to be the first, and to do things differently from others.”
— Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc, who built McDonald’s into a global enterprise, also said:
“I was an overnight success, all right, but thirty years is a long, long night.”
If you are continuing your efforts in the dark right now, that is the eve of your success.
To keep up the effort to communicate without giving up—that is the key to dramatically transforming your life.
Words and Quotes That Reach the Depths of Psychology and Truth
At this point, allow me to share with you the single greatest doubt and worry in my life.
My anxiety is the fear: “What if the paintings I pour my soul into drawing do not comfort anyone’s heart?”
It is a deep sense of loneliness, questioning whether the works I create might be of no use to anybody.
However, this problem was completely solved by art itself.
Because Hiroshige Utagawa’s paintings, across hundreds of years, are soothing your heart right now in this very moment.
Art firmly binds the hearts of the creator and the viewer across time and space.
When I paint with you in mind, that expression without fail reaches your heart and dispels your solitude.
Art possesses the power to directly save the human soul.
Because of this, I can pour my passion into it with peace of mind.
Allow me to introduce several historical quotes here.
“In the end, lacking talent and art, I am tied solely to this one path.”
— Matsuo Basho
It is the resolve to stake one’s life on a single path when one has nothing else.
When you lose your way in your work or daily life, this single-minded determination will become a source of great strength.
“Opportunities always arrive initially as a crisis, or appear as a burden.”
— Aizo Soma
The problems and hardships weighing on you right now are actually great chances for you to leap forward.
“We do it because it is difficult. I do it because no one else will or can do it. I might be a fool for thinking so, but without such fools, nothing new would ever be born into the world.”
— Kiichiro Toyoda
These are the passionate words of Kiichiro Toyoda, who built the foundation of Toyota Motor Corporation.
Choosing a difficult path is precisely what brings extraordinary value to your life.
Life has its light, and it has its darkness.
Accompanying you through such a life is the art of Mimi Takamizawa. It is lifelong support.
Why? Because everyone has the right to live a life of value.
And Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, spoke these words:
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
— Steve Jobs
Jobs’ quote gives you immense courage.
Believing in your intuition and passion to forge ahead is what repaints your daily life anew.
“Most people think of success as something to get. But in truth, success is giving.”
— Henry Ford
When you give love and value to the people around you, you yourself acquire the richest success.
The Passion and Devotion of Great Communicators
In order to spread good things across the world, the existence of passionate communicators is indispensable.
You know of the genius painter Vincent van Gogh.
During his lifetime, his paintings barely sold at all.
The one who continued to support him economically and spiritually was his younger brother, Theo.
However, just six months after Vincent passed away, Theo followed him to the grave.
Left behind was Theo’s wife, Jo (Johanna van Gogh-Bonger).
Holding a young child in her arms, Jo was placed in a situation where she might easily have lost all hope.
Yet, she stood up.
Jo was extremely intelligent, a well-read woman of deep culture.
She re-read the vast volume of letters exchanged between Vincent and Theo over and over again.
As she read the letters, Jo grew to deeply sympathize with Vincent’s humanity and his artistic philosophy of wanting to heal people’s hearts.
“I must never, ever let this wonderful art lie buried away from the world.”
Jo swore this from the bottom of her heart.
“Besides the child, Theo left me another mission—to let Vincent’s work be seen by as many people as possible, and to have its true value recognized.”
— Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (Jo)
Jo dedicated her entire life to holding retrospectives for Van Gogh and editing and publishing his letters.
It is precisely because of her wildly passionate devotion that we today can encounter Van Gogh’s marvelous paintings.
This is exactly the same as the work of the Apostle Paul appearing in the New Testament.
After the death of Jesus Christ, Paul traveled the world amid severe persecution, writing letters and continuing to convey Christ’s teachings.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
— New Testament, 2 Corinthians 5:17
It was precisely because of Paul’s life-risking evangelism that Christ’s words reached the entire world.
The writer Osamu Dazai also continued to weave words while nestling close to human weakness.
“Laughed at and laughed at, I grow strong.”
— Osamu Dazai
Jo, Paul, and Osamu Dazai all dedicated their lives to conveying thoughts and feelings to someone.
Steve Jobs, Akio Morita of Sony, Takeo Fujisawa of Honda, and Shotaro Kamiya of Toyota were all supreme performers and communicators.
Wonderful things move the world only when there is someone to convey them.
I, too, wish to be an evangelist conveying to you the passion for beauty left behind by Hiroshige Utagawa.
Future Forged by Industry and Perseverance
Success in life is not determined by talent or upbringing.
Look at the life of Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of CoCo Ichibanya.
Mr. Munetsugu did not know the faces of his biological parents.
In his early childhood, he lived in an orphanage, and even after being taken in by adoptive parents, he led a life of extreme poverty due to his adoptive father’s gambling addiction.
In the summer, having nothing to eat, he endured hunger by eating wild weeds. His was a life of turbulent ups and downs.
Yet, he never gave up.
When he first opened his coffee shop, customers hardly came at all.
For lunch, the husband and wife got by eating the crusts of bread left over from making sandwiches.
“We started from zero, so it is only natural to start with nothing.”
Accepting it with a smile, he stuck to a customer-first policy.
Mr. Munetsugu devoted every aspect of his life to his work.
“During my active years, I had no hobbies and made no friends. I never went to drinking establishments either. I did not do a single thing that would get in the way of work. There were years I worked 5,640 hours. I thought that unless I set an example myself, my employees wouldn’t work.”
— Tokuji Munetsugu
“It was an extremely lonely life. That’s why I wanted others to show even a little interest in me. I wanted them to be interested in me. That became my starting point. So when I started a business, rather than making money, I wanted to make people happy. I wanted people to say, even a little, that they were glad I was there.”
— Tokuji Munetsugu
He was single-mindedly devoted to work, never casting a glance anywhere else.
He did not listen at all during his active business years to classical music—his favorite passion that had saved his underprivileged youth.
“This is no time to be listening to music; I will dedicate all my time to my customers.”
That overwhelming diligence and perseverance pulled great success toward him.
The religious reformer John Calvin also spoke of life’s harsh trials in this way:
“Whatever comes from the hand of God, no matter how painful it may seem, serves for our salvation.”
— John Calvin
Furthermore, Laozi taught us this:
“He who knows he has enough is rich.”
— Laozi
To be grateful for the environment you have now and to step forward one step at a time.
There is also an ancient maxim: “Life is not in living, but in facing death.”
True life resides precisely within difficult situations.
Your figure as you foolishly and honestly pile up effort day after day shines more beautifully than any art.
Just as Hiroshige Utagawa’s landscape paintings gave a push to the backs of people walking tough journeys, your steady effort will surely be rewarded.
Steps to Work Miracles in Your Daily Life
So, what can you do right now to turn your daily life into something wonderful?
The shortest path is to bring art—a sanctuary for your heart—into your room.
Recall Hiroshige Utagawa’s “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo.”
Hiroshige painted seasonal scenery from novel angles, letting the hearts of those who looked at them travel to the streets of Edo in an instant.
Van Gogh was also deeply moved by Hiroshige’s prints and learned techniques by copying them himself.
First-rate art possesses a powerful force that liberates your tired heart in an instant.
Just having one piece of lovely artwork in your room completely transforms your space.
When you wake up in the morning, simply looking at that painting settles your heart and fills you with motivation.
When you return home at night, that painting gently wraps around your solitude.
“But isn’t buying art a luxury?” you might think.
However, please consider this.
Is there any investment more valuable than one that energizes your heart every day and dramatically increases your life satisfaction?
Things of value often appear to lack immediate effectiveness.
However, they influence your heart little by little every day, and several years later, they will lead your life to a completely different, wonderful place.
Before thinking too much, why not take a step forward?
Immediate decision, immediate resolve, immediate execution.
Unless you try it, results will not follow.
The protagonist of your life is nobody else but you yourself.
Like the blue sky drawn by Hiroshige Utagawa, your future is clear and extends endlessly.
You hold within yourself the power to make your own life shine at its absolute brightest.
P.S.: A Message to You from the Painter Mimi Takamizawa
Thank you so much for reading to the very end.
Lastly, please allow me to speak just a little about myself, Mimi Takamizawa.
I do not use canvas and brushes; I create my works using digital technology.
I print them precisely onto the finest printmaking paper using a technique called giclée printing.
My themes are: your eyes and my eyes, Christianity, eternity, psychology, truth, gazes, history, solitude, isolation, hardship, resurrection, and liberation.
As a painter, I wish to be like a physician who risks his own pocket to save your soul.
My work is an utmost service and devotion to you right in front of me.
Please, laugh at my foolishly earnest figure.
Even if I am laughed at, I grow stronger.
The true essence of an artist is to be an earnest “clown” to bring a smile to your face.
I am an indomitable man. I will never give up.
Knowing the life story of Van Gogh in my youth, I decided to become a painter.
The “Mimi” (ear) in the name Mimi Takamizawa was taken in honor of that famous ear-severing incident of Van Gogh’s.
“I want to paint pictures that express something comforting, like music.”
— Vincent van Gogh
This quote by Van Gogh is the absolute origin of everything for me.
A work or job that cannot inspire or comfort anyone’s heart has no value.
None of the historical masterpieces of the past were created solely through born talent.
They were born through decades of heroic trials, errors, and struggle.
I continue to draw “eyes” within my works.
That is because, through the paintings, I want to feel you right in front of me at all times.
I want to know you, who are standing right before my eyes, much more deeply.
I deeply respect Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of CoCo Ichibanya.
Without looking sideways, I pour all my passion into creating works for more than twelve hours every day.
When you are in front of my eyes, I send you applause in my heart and welcome you with delight.
Life has its light, and it has its darkness.
Accompanying you through such a life is the art of Mimi Takamizawa. It is lifelong support.
Why? Because everyone has the right to live a life of value.
What kind of life yours will be is determined by your diligence, perseverance, and continuity.
I will never abandon you.
I will continue to walk through this life together with you.
“Most people think of success as something to get. But in truth, success is giving.”
— Henry Ford