Benji Asada

Asada Benji 麻田辨次 Benji-O Benji Asada's original surname was Nakanishi, born in Kameoka, near Kyoto, and he studied at the Kyoto Shiritsu Bijutsu Kogei Gakko (Kyoto City School of Fine Arts and Crafts) and the Kyoto Shiritsu Kaiga Senmon Daigaku (Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting), from which he graduated in 1924. Benji Asada became involved in the sosaku hanga movement during the 1920s and 30s and was in contact with artists in both Tokyo and Kyoto. The Tokyo artists worked either in sosaku hanga or shin hanga, led by the publisher Watanabe, while the Kyoto artists worked more freely within both genres. During the same period, Benji Asada studied painting in the traditional style under the Kyoto artist Nishimura Goun (1887-1938). Asada was one of the founders of the Kyoto Creative Print Society in 1929 along with Tokuriki, Asano Takeji (b. 1900), and others. Together, they created the series "Creative Prints of the Twelve Months in New Kyoto" (1930). He became a member of the Japanese Print Society in 1932 and participated in "One Hundred New Views of Japan". After 1945, he worked solely as a painter in the 'Nihonga' style, influenced by Yamaguchi Kayo (1899-1984), a fellow student of Goun and specialised in 'kacho' (bird-and-flower) works.