A Study on Kiho Mutobe --A female painter who studied under Seiho Takeuchi

DOI HANDLE Web Site 47 References Open Access

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 六人部暉峰について --竹内栖鳳門の女性画家--
  • ロクニンブキホウ ニ ツイテ : タケウチセイホウモン ノ ジョセイ ガカ

Search this article

Abstract

Sadae Mutobe was born in 1879, and was the second daughter of Yoshiteru, who served as a priest at Muko Shrine, one of the oldest shrines in the Otokuni region. She visited Seiho Takeuchi to study Japanese painting in her pre-teen years and became a Japanese painter with the special name “Kiho”. Kihoʼs paintings were displayed at lots of exhibitions organized by various institutions and she won many prizes. Her paintings were also exhibited at the fourth National Industrial Exhibition as well as the Paris Expo in 1900, which became a turning point for Seihoʼs career. Furthermore, some of her paintings received royal warrant. In 1896, the Imperial Prince Yamashinanomiya Akira granted her the name “Seiunkaku”. It is amazing that a 17-year-old female artist was granted a special name by prince Akira, who was respected as the Meiji Emperorʼs right-hand man . In addition, her works were introduced in magazines and art books along with other great artists who represented the period of modern Japanese art, and many of her works appeared in top art ranking in the Meiji-Taisho period, which showed that she produced significant achievements. Kiho, who had already exhibited her extraordinary talent since her pre-teen years, advanced her career steadily as one of the main painters in the Kyoto art world. However, since her participation in exhibitions was limited to the Meiji period, her name is not found as an artist in Seihoʼs genealogical tree in books related to Japanese art, and she has now been completely forgotten. Kiho supported the painting work of her master, Seiho, as his assistant, and she also gave birth to seven of his children in her private life. They lived together in Yugawara in their later years ; thus, she seems to have also played a role in studies on Seiho. In addition, as she was a pioneer for women with successful careers and who were born in the Otokuni region, some local history was newly created. In this paper, we will discuss the painting works of Kiho Mutobe, who has not been spotlighted in the history of art, together with the trends of other female artists in Kyoto, based on related materials.

Journal

  • 人文學報

    人文學報 117 1-25, 2021-05-31

    THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES, KYOTO UNIVERSITY

References(47)*help

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top