, also known as Kikuchi Takeyasu and Kawahara Ryōhei, was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

painter most famous for his monochrome portraits of historical figures.

Biography

The son of a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

named Kawahara of Edo, he was adopted by a family named Kikuchi. When eighteen, he became a pupil of Takata Enjō; but, after studying the principles of the Kanō, Shijō, and Maruyama schools, perhaps, under Ozui, a son of Ōkyo, he developed an independent style, having some affinities with that of

Tani Bunchō was a Japanese literati (''bunjin'') painter and poet. Biography He was the son of the poet Tani Rokkoku (1729–1809). As his family were retainers of the Tayasu Family of descendants of the eighth Tokugawa ''shōgun'', Bunchō inherited ...

. His illustrated history of Japanese heroes, the '' Zenken Kojitsu'', is a remarkable specimen of his skill as a draughtsman in monochrome ink. In order to produce this work, and his many other portraits of historical figures, he performed extensive historical, and even archaeological, research. ''Zenken Kojitsu'' features over 500 major figures in Japanese history, and was originally printed as a series of ten woodblock printed books, in 1878.

Style

Nakane Kōtei was a Japanese writer who lived during the late Edo Period and Meiji Era. Writing under the pen name of Kōtei, his given name was Kiyoshi (淑). He was the second son of Sone Nao (曾根直), and his patrilineality root was the Kai-Genji clan ...

(中根香亭) pointed out that Yōsai modelled the form of '' Zenken Kojitsu'' (前賢故実) on ''Wanxiaotang Zhuzhuang Huachuan'' (晩笑堂竹荘画伝) which was drawn by the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

illustrator . Kōtei also said that Yōsai was influenced by

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...

when young. He thought of the calligraphy as much as the picture when he guided a pupil.

Notes

References

* * - facsimile of works. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kikuchi, Yosai 1781 births 1878 deaths 19th-century Japanese painters Artists from Tokyo Buddhist artists Japanese portrait painters People from Musashi Province People of Edo-period Japan People of Meiji-period Japan