The 'In-Ten' Loses Appeal Case Too: A Japanese Painter Who Was Ostracized as a 'Plagiarist' Simply for Accidentally Drawing a Similar Picture Realizes 'The Distortion of Authority' and His 'Mission as a Painter' (Daily Shincho)
Japanese painter Yukio Umehara won his appeal against the Nihon Bijutsuin (In-Ten) after being wrongly accused of plagiarism, but remains ostracized.Summary
Japanese painter Yukio Umehara (75) was suspended from exhibiting for one year by the Nihon Bijutsuin (organizers of the 'In-Ten' exhibition) after a work he submitted was deemed too similar to another artist's piece, leading to him being labeled a "plagiarist writer." Umehara sued the organization, arguing the similarity was coincidental and that the board issued the punishment without concrete evidence. In April, the Tokyo District Court ruled the suspension illegal and ordered the organization to pay 2.2 million yen in damages. This ruling was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in December. Despite winning in court, Umehara states that his standing within the Nihon Bijutsuin has not changed; he is still ostracized, receiving no seasonal gifts from junior artists as he used to. He believes that in this closed community, the judicial outcome is irrelevant, and the issue is that he challenged the authority of the board. Umehara, a distinguished painter who studied under the master Ikuo Hirayama and holds high ranks within the organization, feels he is now treated as a traitor, leading him to reflect on the distortion of authority and his true mission as an artist.
(Source：Yahoo!ニュース)