Toriyama Sekien
Template:Nihongo, real name Sano Toyofusa, was a scholar, kyōka poet, and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore.
Early life
Born to a family of high-ranking servants to the Tokugawa shogunate, Toriyama was trained by Kanō school artists Kanō Gyokuen and Kanō Chikanobu, although he was never officially recognized as a Kanō school painter.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Art career
After retiring from service to the shogunate, Toriyama became a teacher to numerous apprentices in poetry and painting. He was among the first to apply Kanō techniques to ukiyo-e printmaking, inventing key new techniques along the way, such as fuki-bokashi, which allowed for replicating color gradations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Most famously, he was the teacher of Kitagawa Utamaro and Utagawa Toyoharu.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Sekien is best known for his mass-produced illustrated books of yōkai that had appeared in Hyakki Yagyō monster parade scrolls. The first book proved popular enough to spawn three sequels, the last of which features yōkai mainly out of Sekien's imagination. Although sometimes described as a "demonologist," his work is better described as a literary parody of encyclopedias such as the Japanese Wakan Sansai Zue or the Chinese Classic of Mountains and Seas, which were popular in Japan at the time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His portrayals of these creatures from folklore essentially established their visual portrayals in the public's mind and deeply inspired other Japanese artists in his own and later eras, including ukiyo-e artists Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kawanabe Kyōsai, and manga artist Mizuki Shigeru.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Notable works
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- Kawataro 河太郎
- Kawako 河腰
- Yamawaro 山和露
- Ushi no koku mairi 牛の国参り
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References
External links
- Toriyamabiko, a copy of his first book, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art, a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Toriyama Sekien (see index)
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