Tsuchiya Koitsu (Tsoo-CHEE-yah KO-ee-tsoo)

Father of Anime

Koitsu Tsuchiya

Tsuchiya Koitsu was a Japanese artist renowned for his contributions to the shin-hanga ("new prints") movement, an artistic revival of traditional ukiyo-e prints during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, he displayed an early affinity for art and moved to Tokyo at the age of fifteen to apprentice under the esteemed print designer Kobayashi Kiyochika. This apprenticeship, which lasted nearly two decades, shaped his artistic vision and skill in rendering atmospheric light effects—a defining feature of his later works. Initially trained in the Nishiki-e (colored woodblock prints) tradition, Koitsu focused on war prints and historical subjects. However, the turn of the 20th century brought about a shift in his artistic focus. The burgeoning shin-hanga movement, championed by publishers like Watanabe Shōzaburō, sought to revitalize ukiyo-e with Western-influenced lighting and perspectives while maintaining traditional woodblock techniques. It was under the patronage of Watanabe in the 1930s that Koitsu produced some of his most celebrated prints—serene landscapes, atmospheric cityscapes, and evocative portrayals of Japan’s changing seasons. Koitsu's hallmark was his masterful use of light and shadow. Unlike his mentor Kiyochika, whose twilight scenes often evoked solitude and nostalgia, Koitsu’s prints carried a sense of tranquility and timeless beauty. His works, such as "Rainy Night at Asakusa" and "Evening at Lake Kawaguchi," captured the interplay of natural and artificial light, lending his prints a dreamlike quality. He was particularly skilled at depicting Japan’s landscapes under moonlight, snowfall, or soft evening illumination, emphasizing the ethereal stillness of these scenes. Despite his talent, Koitsu’s career was marked by relative obscurity compared to contemporaries like Kawase Hasui. His prints were often mistaken for those of another artist with a similar name, Ishiwata Koitsu, causing occasional confusion among collectors. Unlike Hasui, who had a long-standing contract with Watanabe, Koitsu collaborated with multiple publishers, including Doi Hangaten and Takemura Hideo, which resulted in variations in quality and availability across his works. During the later years of his life, Koitsu continued to create woodblock prints, though Japan’s involvement in World War II and the subsequent economic hardships limited artistic production. The shin-hanga movement, which had once thrived through exports to the West, suffered a decline. Nevertheless, Koitsu’s works remained popular among collectors and have since gained renewed recognition in the modern era. His legacy endures through the timeless allure of his landscapes, which continue to captivate art enthusiasts and collectors worldwide. Today, Tsuchiya Koitsu is regarded as one of the great shin-hanga artists, his prints serving as luminous windows into a Japan of fleeting yet eternal beauty.

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