Shimomura Kanzan

Shimomura Kanzan was born in 1873 (Meiji 6) in Wakayama, the third son of a Noh musician's family, and the family moved to Tokyo when he was eight. As a child he entered the circle of Kano Hogai, and later, on Hogai's advice, he studied under Hashimoto Gaho.

He entered the Tokyo School of Fine Arts as a member of its first class, whose classmates included Yokoyama Taikan. After graduating he taught there, but when Okakura Tenshin left the school in 1898 (Meiji 31) he left with him and joined in founding the Japan Art Institute. He then went to England as a Ministry of Education student and studied watercolor.

From 1906 (Meiji 39) he lived with Tenshin and others at Izura in Ibaraki, and in 1914 (Taisho 3), after Tenshin's death, he helped Taikan and others revive the Japan Art Institute. He became an Imperial Household Artist in 1917 (Taisho 6) and died in 1930 (Showa 5). His style, which harmonizes Yamato-e and Rinpa, is said to have a classical dignity.