Yamamoto Shōun

Who was Yamamoto Shōun?

Yamamoto Shōun, who is also known as Matsutani Shōun, was a Japanese print designer, painter, and illustrator. He was born in Kōchi, Kōchi into a family of retainers of the Shogun and was given the name Mosaburo. As a teenager, he studied Kanō school painting with Yanagimoto Doso and Kawada Shoryu. At about age 17, he moved to Tokyo, where he studied Nanga painting with Taki Katei. At 20 years of age, he was employed as an illustrator for Fugoku gaho, a pictorial magazine dealing with the sights in and around Tokyo. In his latter career, Shōun primarily produced paintings. He died in 1965, at the age of 96.

In addition to his magazine illustrations, Shōun is best known for his woodblock prints of beautiful women and a group of humorous shikishiban. Shōun is considered a bridge between ukiyo-e and shin hanga. His career spans the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa periods.

Yamamoto Shōun signed most of his works with a very small compact signature reading “Shōun”.