Tokyo police have arrested two males for his or her alleged involvement in producing and promoting cast prints of works by outstanding Japanese painters.
They embody forgeries of works by Higashiyama Kaii, a key postwar artist in Japan.
The suspects are 53-year-old Kato Yuzo, who operated an artwork gallery in Osaka City, and 67-year-old Kitabata Masashi, who owns a print manufacturing facility within the metropolis of Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture. The police arrested them on Monday on suspicion of copyright violations.
An investigation by an artwork sellers’ affiliation found counterfeit prints of 10 works by Higashiyama and two different Japanese painters, Hirayama Ikuo and Kataoka Tamako.
The affiliation says the counterfeits have been offered at malls in Tokyo and Osaka up to now a number of years.
Tokyo police suspect the 2 males have been concerned within the manufacturing and sale of faux prints of a piece titled Kusa-aomu by Higashiyama, amongst others.
In an interview with NHK in February, Kitabata admitted that he was requested by Kato greater than eight years in the past to supply faux prints. But Kitabata mentioned he did not know the way they have been distributed.
An group of artwork appraisers in Tokyo says not less than 120 prints submitted by their homeowners for evaluation have been fakes.
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