Sadao Watanabe

Japanese Roman Catholic Writer Shusaku Endo believed his compatriots would never except a God who was a harsh judge. They wanted one who suffered with them and allowed for their weaknesses. This helps to explain why images of Christ the Suffering Servant (from Isaiah 53:1-12) figure so prominently in the biblical art of Japanese Printmaker Sadao Watanabe. He was particularly drawn to the story of Christ washing the feet of his disciples in John 13:1-17 and depicted this scene almost as often as more conventional images of the Last Supper, where the disciples are sitting around the table with Christ in the centure. Watanabe wanted viewers to see his sacred art in a special way, much like the form of visualization prayer St. Ignatius of Loyala recommends in his Spiritual Exercises. “We are not to look on as observers,“ Watanabe explained, “We must enter into the story and become one of Jesus’ disciples, so, Jesus washes my feet. Only when we interpret the story in this way are we able to follow Christ’s example.” Jesus Washes My Feet was the title the Japanese graphic artist gave to this 1969 momigami (crushed paper) print on the theme. The conventions of Western sacred art tell us the figure crowned with the halo, kneeling beside the water basin, is Christ, and the feet he is about to wash ought to belong to the Apostle Peter. Yet, Watanabe’s stylized blue, black and white background in latticework patterns of stripes and circles suggests no such specific moment in time or sacred geography. Any one of us could be the figure sitting on the stool having our feet washed by Jesus. (John Kohan)