Zenken Kojitsu

Moving through time from antiquity through the Nanboku-chō period, it contains portraits and rough biographies in kanbun of 585 imperial family members, loyal retainers, and historical heroines.

In the creation of the sketches, Yōsai also borrowed from the patterns of the Shūko Jisshu (集古十種) and emulated respected artists of the past, such as Ariwara no Narihira and Ono no Michikaze.

Kajita Hango (梶田半古), who adored Yōsai's work, taught his students by making them copy the Zenken Kojitsu, producing excellent historical painters such as Seison Maeda and Kokei Kobayashi (小林古径).

The historical paintings of the Western-style artists of the Meiji Bijutsu-kai, such as Honda Kinkichirō (本多錦吉郎) and Ishii Teiko (石井鼎湖), likewise reflect its influence.

Hara Bushō (原撫松) also diligently copied the Zenken Kojitsu in his youth, and according to his friend Miyake Kokki (三宅克己), his comrades at art school did likewise.

The sculptor Sano Akira (佐野昭), who studied under Vincenzo Ragusa, made a sculpture of Umashimaji-no-mikoto (ウマシマジ命), the ancestor god of the Mononobe clan, which also shows the effect of the Zenken Kojitsu, and is now in the Hamarikyu Gardens.

However, as their focus shifted away from historical accuracy and the investigation of customs and towards expressions of artistic individuality and beauty, they ceased to look back on the Zenken Kojitsu.