Tessai Tomioka’s Chinese Style in Modern Japan

The Museum Yamatobunkakan

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Tessai Tomioka, born in 1837 in Kyoto, was the pseudonym for a painter and calligrapher in imperial Japan. He was educated as a scholar in classical Chinese philosophy and literature, and the ancient Japanese classics. An extremely prolific painter, Tessai Tomioka was known for his Chinese style paintings based on the late Ming dynasty artists from Suzhou and Jiangsu Provinces. He tended towards use of rich colors to portray scenes of people in landscapes, with a composition intended to evoke or illustrate a historical or literary episode.
Tessai Tomioka was appointed official painter to Emperor Meiji, who so liked his works that his commission was extended to cover the Imperial Household Agency as a court painter. He was also appointed a member of the Imperial Fine Arts Academy (Teikoku Bijutsu-in). Throughout his life, Tessai served as a Shinto priest and a scholar.