Ōoka Shunboku

Ōoka Shunboku (1680–1763) was a Japanese painter and engraver of the Edo period, active mostly in Osaka in the Kansai region. He is known for his bird-and-flower paintings, but his greatest importance lies in spreading classical painting. He is usually described as an ukiyo-e artist, though his profile is closer to that of a copyist and publisher of prints and illustrated books.

Largely self-taught, he first devoted himself to illustrating and reproducing old paintings in the Kanō school style. From the late 1710s until shortly before his death he engraved reproductions of many Chinese and Japanese painters for various books. His picture book Ehon tekagami (1720), whose title means "hand mirror," aimed to show each artist's characteristic style, and his notes preserve some obscure works and the names of their creators.

In 1746 he published the six-volume Wakan Meigaen, with portraits of poets, Tosa school works and scenes from The Tale of Genji. He followed it with Gashi Kaiyō (1751) and Soga Banran (1761). His books served as manuals for artists such as Itō Jakuchū and the collector Kimura Kenkadō, and made Ming-dynasty Chinese painters accessible for study. His pupil Takehara Shunchōsai is remembered mainly for Miyako Meisho Zue (1780).