Hara Naoharu

Place: Nogomi Castle In Hizen Province (Present-Day Saga Pref.)

Born: 1547

Death: 1618

Biography:

Unkoku Tōban (1547-1618) was the second son of HARA Naoie, the lord of Nogomi castle in Hizen Province (present-day Saga Pref.). His name was Naoharu and he was a Japanese painter best remembered as a suiboku-ga ('water-ink painting') artist. He worked in the manner of the 15th-century artist Sesshū at a time when the orthodox style of the Kanō school was popular. Tōban was one of the major painters of the Momoyama period and the founder of the Unkoku school, which thrived particularly in western Japan into the Edo period. He impressed two of his seals on each of the screens. Tōban was also known as HARA Naoharu.