Birn: 1761
Died: 1828
A Rimpa painter, Hoitsu was born in Edo, the second son of Lord Sakai of Himeji Castle in Harima Province. Hoitsu moved to Kyoto to study, where he recieved an eclectic painting education. He began in the Kano school; then under Utagawa Toyoharu of the ukiyo-e school, Watanabe Nangaku of the Maruyama school, and So Shiseki of the Nanga school. Finally, on the advice of Tani Buncho, he took up the Rimpa style.
Hoitsu was also well versed in the classics, poetry, and the Noh. In 1797 he became a Buddhist priest, and spent the last 21 years of his life in seclusion, painting and studying the life and works of Korin. (From 1707 the Sakai family had supported Korin with a daily allowance for a number of years and had a large collection of his work.) He published two influential books- "Korin Hyakazu" (1815) and "Kenzan Iboku Gafu" (1823)-of woodcuts after paintings by Korin and Kenzan, as well as a book of his own work, "Oson Gafu". His style owes something to the realism of Okyo, but much more to Korin's decorative manner, which he revived. His was a liquid style, with the dramatic contrasts of Korin combined with particularly clear colors, elegant and refined.
- from "A Dictionary of Japanese Artists" (1976) by Laurance P. Roberts