Okuyama, Gihachiro

Gihachiro Okuyama was born on February 17, 1907 in the town of Sagae in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, dying in October 1, 1981. Gihachiro first studied art under Kosaka Gajin, but unlike many other artists, was both a commercial artist as well as a fine-art artist, while also switching between shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga movements, working and exhibiting with other artists in different and changing associations. In 1946 he established a publishing company, Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho – the Japan Print Institute.