Japanese Art and Keisen Ikeda
Japanese Art and Keisen Ikeda
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Keisen Ikeda was born in the twilight of the Edo Period in the early 1860s and passed away in 1931. His creative life therefore bridges several eras: rooted in Meiji (1868–1912), flourishing through Taishō (1912–1926), and concluding in the opening years of Shōwa. This passage across epochs endowed his work with both classical refinement and modern sensitivity.
He first opened his eyes in Ise Province, home to the sacred Grand Shrine of Ise—Japan’s most revered Shintō sanctuary, dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami. Surrounded by this spiritual landscape, Keisen Ikeda would have visited the shrine many times, absorbing its quiet grandeur. Such early proximity to holiness and tradition surely left a subtle yet lasting imprint on his artistic spirit.
His earliest mentor was his father, Unshō Ikeda. Together they moved to Kyoto in the early 1870s, where Keisen’s artistic education deepened amid the city’s refined cultural atmosphere. In this ancient capital, steeped in elegance and learning, the values of high culture were woven into his very soul.
Within Kyoto’s artistic circles, Keisen Ikeda earned wide recognition, particularly for his devotion to Nanga painting. His works echo the resonance of history and scholarship, blending literati ideals with a distinctly Japanese sensibility. Through brush and ink, he conveyed landscapes not merely as scenery, but as vessels of memory, culture, and contemplation.
Overall, Keisen Ikeda created a rich body of evocative art—quietly powerful, deeply cultured, and enduringly relevant—continuing to speak to modern Japan with poetic grace.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK