Kawai Gyokudō

Who was Kawai Gyokudō?

Kawai Gyokudō was the pseudonym of a Japanese painter in the nihonga school, active from Meiji through Shōwa period Japan. His real name was Kawai Yoshisaburō.

Gyokudō was born in what is now Ichinomiya city, Aichi Prefecture, as the eldest son of a paper, ink and brush merchant. He went to Kyoto in 1887 to study under Kōno Bairei of the Maruyama-Shijo school of painting. In 1896, he moved to Tokyo and he became the student of Hashimoto Gahō, of the Kanō school. He also studied Western-style painting and developed a highly personal style, especially in the field of landscape painting.

Gyokudō is noted for his polychrome and occasionally monochrome works depicting the mountains and rivers of Japan in the four seasons, with humans and animals shown as part of the natural landscape. Among his representative works are Futsuka zuki, Yuku haru, Mine-no-yu, and Bosetsu.

In 1898, Gyokudō joined with Okakura Tenshin and Yokoyama Taikan to found the Nihon Bijutsuin. In 1907, Gyokudo was selected as a judge for the first annual Bunten Exhibition. He became a teacher at the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō in 1919.