Bridge at Uji

By the River Uji

Study of Bronze Dragon

Twin Idols in the Outskirts of Tokyo

When Washburn left Havana in February, 1904 he went first to Montreal to obtain letters of introduction to various influential people in Japan, and then to Vancouver, to arrive just in time to join his brother Stanley on a steamer, but his luggage failed to arrive; he waited for the luggage. By the time Washburn arrived,on the next ship, in Japan, Stanley was off with the Japanese fleet; thus giving Washburn several months in Japan, which he put to use etching. He stayed for awhile in Tokyo, and then, as he wrote, “took a Japanese Temple named Hokira” in Kyoto for three months. He produced at least 64 plates in Japan.

Among the plates was his first drypoint, of a Japanese Priest, done with a sewing needle, and first printed on paper taken from a window of the temple where he was staying.

In August, Stanley Washburn returned to Yokohama, where Cadwallader joined him and they spent the rest of the year and into 1905 traveling between Japan and Newchang. While cruising on a chartered boat looking for the fleets they discovered the Russian Cruiser Diana on the Mekong River (according to the artist’s account). This was considered a major scoop, and Cadwallader did a number of sketches of the area for a book that was never completed.

In 1905 he returned to the United States.

See Eastern Impressions: Cadwallader Washburn: The Russo-Japanese War Years for an excellent description of Washburn's time in Japan and China, and along with illustrations.