Hanabusa Itcho's poetry

Hanabusa Itchō (1652 - 1724) was a Japanese painter active primarily in Edo during the Genroku era (1688-1704). After studying under Kanō Yasunobu, a younger brother of Kanō Tan'yū, Hanabusa Itchō was deeply inspired by the work of Hishikawa Moronobu and Iwasa Matabei. He then moved away from the Kanō style to create a series of highly distinctive genre paintings, which vividly depicted the people of the city. At the age of forty-seven, in 1698, Hanabusa Itchō was exiled to the Island of Miyakejima. The works he painted while in exile are called “Itchō Island” and are particularly appreciated by the public and scholars. This exhibition at the Suntory Museum of Art, which was created on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of Itchō's death, explores, through his most important and distinctive works, the artistic activities and fascinating personality of this extraordinary Japanese artist.