Kikuchi Yōsai

Kikuchi Yōsai (菊池容斎 1781-1878), also known as Kikuchi Takeyasu and Kawahara Ryōhei was a Japanese painter most famous for his monochrome portraits of historical figures.

The son of a samurai named Kawahara of Edo, he was adopted by the Kikuchi family, who were old hereditary retainers of the Tokugawa clan. When eighteen, he became a pupil of Takata Enjō; but, after studying the principles of the Kanō, Shijō, and Maruyama schools, perhaps, under Ozui, a son of Ōkyo, he developed an independent style, having some affinities with that of Tani Bunchō .

His illustrated history of Japanese heroes, the "Zenken Kojitsu", is a remarkable specimen of his power as a draughtsman in monochrome ink. In order to produce this work, and his many other portraits of historical figures, he performed extensive historical, and even archaeological, research. "Zenken Kojitsu" features over 500 major figures in Japanese history, and was originally printed as a series of ten woodblock printed books, in 1878.

References

*1911
*Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.