Ishikawa Ryūjō

Ishikawa Ryūjō (石川柳城, 1847–1927) was a literati artist active during the Meiji and Taishō eras. He was born and raised in Ama County, Aichi Prefecture. In 1861, he was adopted by the Kikkawa family 吉川家at the age of 14 and renamed Kouzo 考蔵. In 1875, he left the Kikkawa family and succeeded the Ishikawa Kodo family 石川古道, giving himself the current surname of Ishikawa. His personal name was 戈足, and his style name (azana) was Shien子淵. He was commonly known as Kinzaburō金三郎and Kōzō孝蔵. Another pseudonym was Ryūjō柳城. His actual family name was Itō 伊東. He studied under Yoshida Kasetsu 吉田稼雪. He moved to Kyoto and began to associate with Hine Taizan 日根野対山, Nakanishi Kōseki (中西耕石, 1807–1884), and others. He travelled to Taiwan and mainland China occasionally and came to be known as “the literati painter Taito” 南画の泰斗.