Kawahara Keiga

With special permission from the Japanese government, Kawahara worked as a painter at the Dutch factory of Dejima, Nagasaki, from 1811 to 1842.

From 1823 to 1829, Kawahara drew and coloured detailed images of Japanese flora and fauna, at the behest of Dejima commander, physician and botanist Philipp Franz von Siebold.

In 1825 Carl Hubert de Villeneuve (1800–1874) came to Dejima and taught Kawahara the fundamentals of Western painting techniques.

In 1846 he put his signature on five ceiling paintings in the main hall of the Buddhist temple Wakimisaki Kannon (now in Wakimisakimachi, Nagasaki-shi, Nagasaki).

Kawahara's images have been fundamental for biological publications by Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Hermann Schlegel.