Ioki Bunsai (1863–1906) 五百城 文哉（1863～1906）(左）
Official explanation
Ioki Bunsai received considerable acclaim for his Western-style renderings of Japanese flora, especially his realistic paintings of alpine plants. Born in Mito (present-day Ibaraki Prefecture), Bunsai studied in Tokyo with Takahashi Yuichi (1828–1894), who was one of the founders of Western-style painting in Japan. Bunsai moved to Nikko in 1892.
Bunsai’s love of alpine plants began with treks in the mountains of Okunikko. He painted, cultivated, and studied the plants, helping to found the Nikko Botanical Garden in 1902. Bunsai was also the first teacher of the acclaimed Nikko artist Kosugi Hoan.
Read the full explanation
The three small floral paintings are from Bunsai’s Nikko yamakusa zufu (Illustrated Guide to the Alpine Plants of Nikko)
The landscape depicts the alpine plants of Mt. Shirouma in Nagano Prefecture, circa 1903.
The square portrait was painted by Bunsai’s student Hoan, titled “My late teacher, Bunsai Sensei.”
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Kosugi Hoan (1881–1964)
Artist Kosugi Hoan was born in Nikko as Kosugi Kunitaro. He first studied Western painting as an apprentice under Ioki Bunsai. In 1898, Hoan moved to Tokyo, where he met Koyama Shotaro (1857–1916), another prominent Western-style painter, and continued his studies by joining several academies and institutes. During this time, he changed his name to “Misei” and participated in the 1932 Olympic Art Competition and other international exhibitions. His Western-style paintings, book illustrations, and Japanese-style paintings are highly acclaimed and won many awards in exhibitions sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Over time, he began to focus more on Japanese styles of painting and eventually changed his name to “Hoan.”
His paintings reveal humor and a gentle disposition toward nature. He spent his youth in the natural environment of Nikko, and his work abounds with childhood memories. Furusato (1959) is a collection of his sketches, poems, and childhood recollections, which includes a sketch of Hoshino Gorobei.
The larger work depicts a bullfinch in a kobus magnolia (ink and pigment).
Smaller works:
top left: Japanese oak (watercolor)
top right: Scarlet-leaved viburnum (watercolor)
bottom left: Great spotted woodpecker (watercolor)
bottom right: Bohemian waxwing (watercolor)
出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.
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