Sakai Hōitsu (born in Edo, 1761 and died 1829, though some records give 1763 and 1828) was a Japanese painter of the Rinpa school who played a decisive role in spreading the style of Ogata Kōrin during the Edo period. The son of a daimyō of Himeji Castle, he trained in the Kanō school and with Utagawa Toyoharu in ukiyo-e, and later with Watanabe Nangaku of the Maruyama school and Sō Shiseki of the nanga style.
In 1797 he became a Buddhist priest, citing poor health, and spent the last twenty-one years of his life in seclusion. In this period he studied the work of Kōrin and of Kōrin's brother, Ogata Kenzan, producing copies of their paintings and spreading their designs through woodblock print books such as Kōrin Hyakuzu (1815) and Kenzan Iboku Gafu (1823).
His style blends realistic elements from ukiyo-e with the decorative approach of Kōrin. His pair of screens Flowering Plants of Summer and Autumn, painted on the reverse of Kōrin's screens, is considered one of his finest works and is now held by the Tokyo National Museum. His legacy lies mainly in keeping Kōrin's reputation alive and in having Suzuki Kiitsu as a pupil.
Works (1)
Where to see the work
- Tokyo National Museum Tokyo · 1
Teachers and pupils
Pupils
- Suzuki Kiitsu 1796–1858
Curiosities
Screens painted on the back
Flowering Plants of Summer and Autumn was painted on the reverse of Dios del viento y Dios del trueno, the screens by Ogata Kōrin that belonged to Hōitsu's family. Because both sides had become a symbol of Rinpa painting, the two parts were separated to protect them from possible damage. Today each one is kept in a different place.
Three versions together
In 2015, the Kyoto National Museum exhibition Rinpa: The Aesthetics of the Capital displayed for the first time in seventy-five years the three versions of Wind God and Thunder God: those by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Kōrin and Hōitsu. Hōitsu's screens were last shown in 2017 in The Art of Edo Rinpa at the Idemitsu Museum of Arts.