Background
Kiyohara Tamayo was the second daughter of Kiyohara Einosuke, manager of the famous Zōjō-ji temple in Shiba-Shinbori, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
清原玉清原お玉エレオノーラ・ラグーザラグーザ・玉
Kiyohara Tamayo was the second daughter of Kiyohara Einosuke, manager of the famous Zōjō-ji temple in Shiba-Shinbori, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Her maiden name was Kiyohara Tamayo (清原多代). She started studying seriously painting with a Japanese master even before entering elementary school. She continued to be active in the arts and was nominated vice-principal of an art school Vincenzo opened in Palermo.
The school, called “Museo Artistico Industriale, Scuole Officine”, was opened in 1884 with public funds in Palazzo Belvedere (Casa Benzo).
He headed the male section, she the female section. The school still exists under the name of Istituto d"Arte di Palermo.
She also excelled in embroidery, winning a gold medal for her work at an exhibition in Rome. After her husband"s death in 1927, two Japanese newspapers, the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun and the Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun, found out about her story and published a serialized novel about it, bringing Tamayo to fame in her homeland.
By then she could barely speak Japanese anymore, but she decided to go back.
After her return, she opened an atelier in Shiba Shinbori, where she died some years later. She is buried at her family temple, Chōgeneral-ji. Kiyohara was herself a painter of great skill, but most of the works she left in Japan were destroyed during World World War II, while those left in Italy are still exhibited in various private collections.
According to her wishes, half of her ashes are in Japan, half lie in Palermo next to her husband"s grave.
