Watanabe Shōtei

He blended Western realism with the delicate colours and washes of the Kikuchi Yōsai school, introducing a new approach to kachōga (bird-and-flower painting).

Born as Yoshikawa Yoshimata in Edo, he was later adopted by the family of his father's literary friend, Watanabe Mitsue.

His early studies were at age sixteen under Kikuchi Yōsai (1788–1878) after which he spent a brief time in the studio of the painter and lacquer artist, Shibata Zeshin (1807–1891).

[3] Travel abroad was extremely difficult for Japanese artists in the early Meiji period (1868–1912), and it is unknown how Shōtei managed this.

He became a major inspiration to the following generation of Nihonga artists, notably Mizuno Toshikata (1866–1908) and Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878–1973).