From November 13 to 15, 2025, Wesley Zaidan held the “Christian Artist: Print Exhibition of Sadao Watanabe,” featuring 20 prints from the collection of  Waseda Houshien. On November 14 and 15, Rev. Jun Yoshimatsu, a Christian art expert and professor at Kinjo Gakuin University, gave a special lecture titled “Through the Narrow Gate to the World: The Faith and Biblical Perspective of Christian Artist Sadao Watanabe.”

This exhibition was organized to highlight the works of Christian artists in Japan, with the hope that their creative expressions of faith will inspire and be passed on to the next generation of Christian artists.

During the three-day exhibition, a total of 75 visitors attended, and 42 people participated in the two special lectures.

In the lectures, Rev. Yoshimatsu spoke about Sadao Watanabe’s life and artistic world. He first highlighted the fact that Watanabe chose to follow the “narrow gate” of Christian art in Japan, where Christians make up less than 1% of the population. Baptized at the age of 17, Watanabe studied stencil printmaking under Keisuke Serizawa, a master of the folk craft movement (mingei), during his youth. However, he later devoted himself entirely to creating works based on Biblical themes.

Rev. Yoshimatsu demonstrated that Watanabe’s works show influences from a variety of artistic traditions, including the mingei (folk craft) movement, Buddhist art, and Western Christian painting, and he explained these by comparing Watanabe’s works with examples from each tradition. The lecture highlighted how Watanabe, while learning from diverse art forms, pursued his own unique expression of faith and brought it to fruition.

Rev. Yoshimatsu also described Christian art as “a form of faith expression and testimony that connects the time of the Bible with the artist’s own era.” Participants were invited to reflect on the historical context of Watanabe’s life and to appreciate the faith embodied in his works.

Visitors shared their impressions of the exhibition, saying, “The works were wonderful; they made me want to read the Bible again,” “I was able to view the works in a calm atmosphere and felt healed,” and “It was my first time seeing the originals, and I was impressed by the originality of the techniques.”

Lecture participants also expressed their appreciation, commenting, “The lecture deepened my understanding of the artworks,” “I became even more interested in Christian art,” and “I want to see more works of Watanabe and share them with my friends.”

Wesley Zaidan will continue its efforts to highlight diverse Christian artists, hoping that creative expressions of faith will nurture and inspire people’s hearts.