Mori Sosen

Who was Mori Sosen?

Mori Sosen was a Japanese painter of the Shijō school during the Edo period.

Mori Sosen is famous for his many paintings depicting monkeys and other animals. Robert van Gulik called him "an undisputed master" of the painting of the Japanese macaque. When a gibbon was brought in Japan by the Dutch in 1809, creating somewhat of a sensation, it was Mori who had created a graphic record of this event as well.

It is unknown whether he was born in Nagasaki or Nishinomiya, but he lived in Osaka for most of his life.