URBANA — Shozo Sato, master of Japanese traditional arts and founder of the Japan House in Urbana, died at the age of 91 on May 4.
Sato was a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Japan House Director Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud said Sato was discovered in Japan in the 1960s by Margaret Erlanger, then head of dance at the U of I, while she was on a fellowship. She said Erlanger was enamored with his teachings of Kabuki theatre. She invited him as a visiting artist-in-residence in 1964.
After a year in residence, Sato was asked to stay to teach various Japanese arts, including ikebana flower arrangement, calligraphy, black ink painting and tea ceremonies.
Gunji-Ballsrud said teaching tea ceremonies became difficult for Sato in the early years due to the constraints of an art classroom. She said he would have to move the furniture aside before each class to ensure he had enough space and a tranquil setting.
“He actually built a tea room in his townhouse, and he put a sign on the door [of the classroom] and said, ‘Students of such and such class come to this address,’” Gunji-Ballsrud said.
After some time, the University administration caught wind of Sato’s townhouse classes. Morton Weir, the vice president of academic affairs at the time, decided to experience the class for himself instead of shutting it down.
“He was so taken aback by what these students were learning, how the discussions were being developed and that students came from all disciplines,” Gunji-Ballsrud said. “It was students from all over campus that were in this class sitting, learning tea and talking about Zen philosophy.”
In 1976, Sato was allocated the first Japan House, an old Victorian house on the corner of California and Lincoln in Urbana. Gunji-Ballsrud grew up going to this house for classes with her mother, Kimko Gunji, Sato’s right-hand and a professor emeritus in Japanese Arts.
Gunji-Ballsrud said that Sato’s background in theatre set design allowed him to transform the space. She said walking into Japan House was like stepping into Japan.
“The way he designed that space, there were few doors and the windows were covered, so we didn’t see a traditional western window,” Gunji-Ballsrud said. “They were covered with shoji screen, and the floors were dark, and he had plants growing in the corner and tatami mat floors.”
She said the house evolved into an arts center where Sato taught until 1992. In 1998, Japan House relocated to its current location in Urbana, complete with Japanese landscaping, on the edge of campus.
“Japan House was never built for Japanese students,” Gunji-Ballsrud said. “It was literally built so that he could teach Japanese arts and culture in a setting that was appropriate, in a setting that felt authentic, in a setting that if we couldn’t get to Japan, we felt like we were in Japan.”
Diana Liao, the education and engagement specialist at Japan House, said that Sato never fully retired, even when he stopped teaching.
“To his last few days, he never stopped producing art. He never stopped being curious,” Liao said. “He never stopped sharing the arts and speaking with his friends, his colleagues, his students.”
Before Liao worked at the house, she was one of Sato’s student interns and assisted in his calligraphy classes. She said he treated all his students with the same sincerity.
“He always told students, ‘Don’t sue me for touching you, but we’re about to dance.’ And then he would actually hold their arms, correct their posture, and actually guide them through the brush strokes,” Liao said. “You have to imagine, like, this is like a 15- to 20-person class, and he would go through with every single student and give them each hands-on attention to detail.”
Liao described Sato as “a Renaissance man,” whose influence reached far and wide through kabuki or his numerous books on Japanese art forms. She said that as a child of World War II, he sought to bring peace and cultural understanding through art.
“He really did see his life achievement as building in cultural bridges, making the teaching of Japanese arts and aesthetics accessible to a wide audience,” Liao said.