Yamakawa Shūhō

Born in Kyoto. Real name Yoshio. His father was a designer of dying patterns. Moved to Tokyo when he was still young. First he studied flower and bird paintings under Ikegami Shühö, and then bijinga under Kaburaki Kiyokata. Together with Itö Shinsui and Terashima Shimei they were considered the outstanding students of the Kiyokata school. Shühö received awards at the ninth and eleventh Teiten. Thereafter he was invited to participate in the Teiten ‘Nunozarashi’ of 1936 and his modern beauties prints were published by Bijutsu-sha and Watanabe. ‘The Tokyo station at present’ [1942] published by Watanabe is his most important print. In 1939 he participated in the organization of the Seikinkai with a.o. Shinsui and created a new style of bijin prints. (The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties. Hotei Publishing, 2000).