Born: 1730
Died: 1781
Shohaku was a Soga painter, born in Ise, he lived in Kyoto. He studied under the Kano artist Takada Keiho. Shokaku was contemporary, but an enemy of Okyo. He was a dominant figure in the art world of Kyoto, though many of his contemporaries considered him mad, a fanatic, since his behavior did not conform to that of Kyoto's polite society. As an artist, he was much neglected in his lifetime. An independent, proud man, Shohaku developed his own style and used a seal reading "Soya Jasokuken" , thereby showing his dependence on the style of Soga Jasoku. He painted some landscapes, but more generally is known for his figure pieces of a wild fantasy. His subjects were drawn from Chinese legends and rendered with dynamic, vigorous, sweeping brushwork-a style too coarse to be widely appreciated by his contemporaries, even though they admitted the strength of his brushwork.
- from A Dictionary of Japanese Artists (1976), by Laurance
P. Roberts