SHIBUNKAKU ONLINE SHOP | Urakami Gyokudō

Literati painter, calligrapher, musician and poet of the late Edo period, originally from Bizen Province (now Okayama Prefecture). After serving the lord of the Okayama feudal domain, Gyokudō renounced his position and led an itinerant life, traveling around the country with his qin (Chinese zither). Closely acquainted with leading intellectuals and literati artists of his day such as Tanomura Chikuden, Kimura Kenkadō, Tani Bunchō, and Okada Beisanjin, Gyokudō settled in Kyoto in his later years. Self-taught as a painter, he embraced a freewheeling style for his landscapes, often working intoxicated. Gyokudō’s memory continues to be held in high esteem as the embodiment of late literati culture in Japan.