Biography of Japanese Painter

Ikegami Shuho (1874 - 1944)

Ikegami Syuho (1874 - 1944)

Japanese-style painter through the Meiji to Showa eras.
Shuho was good at painting Sansui landscape views and flowers & birds pictures.


Shuho was born in 1874 as the second son of Ikegami Shuka in Takato Town of Nagano Prefecture.
His real given name was Kunisaburo.(Shuho is a pseudonym.)
The family business of the Ikegamis was warehouse dealer of papers and knickknacks from the Edo period.
As the family was financially well-off, both Shuho's father and grandfather enjoyed drawing, composing Haiku and Tanka poems, Chanoyu tea ceremony and flower arrangement as their hobbies.
Shuho was greatly affected by the circumstances.


In 1889, Shuho graduated from an elementary school and went to Tokyo with his father to become a professional painter.
He became the first disciple of Araki Kanpo who was obscure at that time.
In 1906, he married with his fellow pupil, Ohoka Toyoko.


For three straight years from 1916, Shuho won the special prizes for the Bunten Exhibitions.
Although, as he was disaffected by the judging system of the Bunten, he became a champion of reform of that exhibition.
In 1933 Shuho became an adjudicator of the Teiten Exhibition.
In 1944, in the process of World War 2, he deceased at the age of 70.

  • Secchu Inoshishi, Boar in the Snow 1907
  • Tsuru-Matsu-zu, Cranes and Matsu Tree, Byobu Folding Screen Saseki (Left)
  • Yamazakura-zu, Mountain Cherry Blossoms 1943
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