Background
Gakutei Kyūzan was born in Edo (the former name of Tokyo) around 1786 during the Edo or Tokugawa period in the family of the samurai known as Hirata who served under the Tokugawa shogunate.
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- Works
- Photos
- Works
woodblock print
A woman playing a large suspended drum
1827
Untitled
(a woodblock print embossed on paper, circa 19th century, ...)
a woodblock print embossed on paper, circa 19th century, illustrating the Kagerō Nikki.
Sennin Ôkyô
(a woodblock print in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1821 and ...)
a woodblock print in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1821 and 1822
Kyūzan Gakutei
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Gakutei Kyūzan was a Japanese artist and novelist. His surname was Yashima and his given name Onokichi. He was also known as Yashima Gakutei, Gakutei Gogaku , Gakutei Iciro Yasima and Gakutei Sadaoka. Gakutei is best known for his kyōka poetry (a popular, parodic subgenre of the tanka form of Japanese poetry) and woodblock printing called surimono.
Education
An employee of the Shogunate, he studied comic waka poetry, and painting under Hokusai Katsushika and Totoya Hokkei. Both Hokusai and Totoya were well-known Japanese artists and ukiyo-e painters.
Career
During the Tempo Era (1830-1843), he moved to Osaka and wrote novels. His books included Honcho Akkoden (Stories of Evil Foxes) and Ehon Saiyuki (Illustrated Saiyuki), Saiyuki being a well-known Chinese novel.
Gakutei is noted for the quality in his wood printing works and for his general contributions to the body of ukiyo-e artwork. Specifically, critics have noted his technical prowess and precision, his skill in embossing, and that his specialization in surimono exceeded that of his teacher, Hokkei. Some of his works included a set of five woodblock prints featuring young women performing gagaku, a traditional kind of court music from the Heian period. Each woman plays an instrument: a reed called a shō, a woodwind called a ryūteki, a koto, a stringed instrument called a biwa, and a drum called a tsuri-daiko.
Works
novel
woodblock print
