Honda Tenjō
Japanese, 1867 - 1946
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyHonda Tenjō (本多天城, 1867–1946) was a Nihonga painter active from the Meiji period through the Shōwa period. He was born in Shinagawa District of modern-day Tokyo. His real name was Yūsuke 佑輔. From 1880 through 1885, he studied Western-style painting from Kondō Katsumi (近藤勝美, n.d.), and from 1885, he studied Nihonga painting from Kanō Hōgai 狩野芳崖 alongside fellow students Okakura Shūsui (岡倉秋水, born 1867), Oka Fuhō (岡不崩, 1869–1940), and Takaya Shōtetsu (高屋肖哲, 1866–1945). Together, they became known as the Four Heavenly Guardians (Shitennō) of Hōgai. He studied about the development of Japanese painting in the Kangakai 鑑画会, founded in 1878 by Ernest Fennalosa and others.