Ito Jakuchu

Ito Jakuchu was born in 1716 (Shotoku 6) in Kyoto, the eldest son of a greengrocer at Takakura Nishikikoji. His personal name was Jokin and his courtesy name Keiwa; he also used the names Tobe-an and Beito-o. Devoted to painting and Zen, he received the lay-Buddhist name "Jakuchu" (a title given to a lay practitioner), and at 40 he handed the family business to his younger brother and concentrated on painting.

He first studied the Kano school, then copied Chinese paintings of the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties held in old Kyoto temples. He is also said to have been influenced by the then-fashionable detailed bird-and-flower paintings of Shen Nanpin and by ink paintings connected with the Obaku Zen sect. In this way he completed a style that skillfully fuses realism and imagination.

He died in 1800 (Kansei 12) at the age of 85. His works include Elephant, Group of Roosters, Rooster, Vegetable Nirvana, and Birds and Flowers (mounted-panel screens).