Natori Shunsen

Born in Kushigata-chö, Yamanashi. Real name Yoshinosuke. After the bankruptcy of his father’s business, he moved to Tokyo in 1887 with his family, and started to study nihonga under Kubota Beisen and Hirafuku Hyakusui, and oil painting under Fukui Kötei. Entered nihonga style printings in the Inten (‘Japan Art Institute Exhibition’) and Teiten. From 1907 until 1913 he worked for the Asahi Newspaper by illustrating a.o. the serial novel ‘Heibon’ by Futabatei Shimei and later Natsume Söseki’s novel ‘Sanshirö’. In 1915 he produced the portfolio of prints titled yakusha-e shin nigao-e (‘New portraits of actors’) together with Yamamura Köka. His most important prints, ‘Ganjirö in the role of Kamiya Jihei’, 1916, and ‘Baikö in the role of Otomi’, 1917 were published by Watanabe Shözaburö, as well as many of his subsequent series of actors before and after the war. His three prints of women were produced in 1928. (The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties. Hotei Publishing, 2000).