Born in 1892 in Gifu, Mutô Kan-ichi 武藤完一 graduated from the Kawabata Painting School in 1915. From 1925 he worked as a teacher. He began making woodblock prints after a short course with Hiratsuka Un'ichi. In the 30s he became active in the proletarian art movement and he exhibited with the Shin Hanga Shûdan; he also exhibited with the Nihon Hanga Kyôkai in the 1930s and became a member in 1938. In the same period he also took up etching, and he was a founding member of the Japan Etching Society in 1940. He was active promoting hanga in secondary schools and he contributed to many hanga magazines.
