Hijikata Torei · 1735 or 1741 - 1807
Hijikata Torei
Hijikata Torei was a painter of the middle to late Edo period from Inaba Province (now Tottori Prefecture). Basing his work on the Nanpin school, he also took in the large-scale compositional methods of the Maruyama-Shijo school, and left many works.
Hijikata Torei was a painter born the second son of a retainer serving a chief councilor of the Tottori domain. His birth year is given as either 1735 (Kyoho 20) or 1741 (Kanpo 1), and is not certain. His art name Torei is said to derive from a local scenic spot, Mt. Inaba.
He studied the Nanpin style under So Shiseki in Edo and was devoted to it. Around the beginning of the Tenmei era he moved to Kyoto, where he was on friendly terms with Maruyama Okyo and Tani Buncho. In 1798 (Kansei 10), at the age of 57, he became an official painter to the lord of Tottori and returned to his home province.
He excelled at figures, landscapes, birds and flowers, and insects and fish, and is said to have been especially skilled at carp. While keeping to the Nanpin style, he learned the compositional methods of the Maruyama-Shijo school and left many large wall and screen paintings. He died in 1807 (Bunka 4). One of his works is Fierce Tiger.
