Hayami Shunyōsai

Hayami Shungyōsai 速水春暁斎 (1767-1823)     

BIOGRAPHY

Sources: Wikipedia Japan and as footnoted.

An author, painter and illustrator, Hayami, the son of a dry-goods dealer, was born in the old Yamashiro Province in 1767.  He was a student of the Osaka illustrators and ukiyo-e painters Okada Gyokuzan 岡田玉山 (1737-1812) and Takehara Shunchōsai 竹原春朝斎 (fl. 1772–1801), but it is said that he learned painting from Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙 (1733-1795), who founded the Maruyama school of painting.

Active in Osaka, he is best known as a writer and illustrator of ehon yomihon, a type of popular literature from the late Edo period, and he is credited with making the story of Chūshingura available to the public “as a legitimate reading pleasure” which “was accepted by its readers as a sort of historical ‘truth’.”1

In addition to his many extant ehon yomihon, a number of surimono have been attributed to him, although there may be some confusion of attribution for these surimono with his son, the second generation Hayami Shungyōsai (?-1867).

1 “The Capacity of Chushingura”, Henry D. Smith II appearing in Monumenta Nipponica Vol. 58: No. 1, Spring, 2003, p. 22-23.

last revision:

12/1/2019

Prints in Collection

[BELOW PRINTS GIFTED TO THE JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON]

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