Hata Teruo

He lost his father at the age of nine, which resulted in straitened economic circumstances.

In 1909, he joined an organization of young painters known as the "Heigo Group", named after one of the Heavenly Stems in the sexagenary cycle, meaning "To Strike".

After 1914 he led a restless life, living in Osaka, Kōbe and Tokyo, where he painted bleak industrial scenes and graphic portraits of prostitutes.

Following a serious illness in 1919, he got married and when his first child was born, in 1921, he settled in the village of Kamo.

At that time, he became interested in the works of Paul Gauguin and began to create paintings with Buddhist themes, having become disillusioned with Christianity.