Shunso Hishida1874~1911 菱田春草

Hishida Shunso (real name Mioji) was a leading Japanese-style painter of the Meiji era. Born in 1874 in Iida-machi, Shimoina-gun, Nagano Prefecture, he studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts under Okakura Tenshin and Hashimoto Gaho, and together with Yokoyama Taikan and Shimomura Kanzan he contributed to the modernization of Nihonga. When Okakura resigned as principal, Shunso left the school with him and helped found the Japan Art Institute (Nihon Bijutsuin); he and Taikan experimented with a lineless technique (morotai) that was initially derided, but he later incorporated Rinpa-style decorativeness and atmospheric perspective, producing masterpieces such as “Ochiba” (Fallen Leaves) and “Kuroki Neko” (Black Cat). He died young at age 37 in 1911 due to kidney disease.