Ikeda Ryūho
Japanese, 1885 - 1974
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyIkeda Ryūho (池田龍甫, 1885–1974, real name: Ikeda Momotarō 池田桃太郎) was born in modern-day Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, the 4th son of the carpenter Ikeda Yoshitarō. Due to the influence of his father, he liked drawing and painting from a young age, and while he lived in Morioka, he was taught by Yoshida Sesson, an apprentice of Kawaguchi Gesson 川口月村 (1845–1904). After moving to Kyoto, he began receiving lessons from the Akita artist Terasaki Kōgyō (寺崎広業, 1866–1919) in his private school, Tenrai gajuku 天籟画塾 (see Entry C3). In 1910, he was recruited into Tokyo Art School (see Entry B6), and he graduated in 1915. While still a fourth-year university student, he submitted a painting into the Bunten (see Entry A2), and it was accepted, making Ikeda the first artist to exhibit in the Bunten while still a student. From that time, he exhibited in the Bunten and Teiten several times, winning awards for his work ten times. In 1944, he returned to Morioka city in an effort to escape the war. In 1948, he worked to establish the Iwate Prefecture School of Art and Crafts (see Entry B5). After it opened, he became a professor at the school. Later, he trained many students as a lecturer in the art department of Iwate University. Ryūho was called the last full-fledged Japanese-style painter in that prefecture. Therefore, in his late years, he lamented the deterioration of the quality of painting materials, complaining that modern Nihonga paints smelled like ink and that the silk used in such paintings was mixed with synthetic fibers and therefore repelled water.
