SHIBUNKAKU ONLINE SHOP | Watanabe Kazan

Edo-period painter, intellectual and retainer of the Tahara domain in Mikawa Province (modern Aichi Prefecture). While serving the lord of his domain, Kazan studied rangaku (Dutch studies, i.e. Western science) and joined Takano Chōei and Koseki San'ei to form the Shōshikai group of Western studies. He learned painting from Shirakawa Chizan and Tani Bunchō with deep interest in naturalist depiction and the art of portraiture. Due to suppression of Western thinking in the mid-19th century, Kazan was forced into ritual suicide.