Miyata Masayuki (1926 - 1997)

Miyata Masayuki (宮田 雅之), was born in Tokyo in 1926. He is mainly known as a kiri-e (papercutting) artist. He was discovered by the famous writer Tanizaki Jun'ichiro. A few years before his death, in 1995, he was selected as the year's official artist for the United Nations. He made illustrations for modern publications of Japanese classic literature, including Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to Oku), The Tale of Genji, and The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Still, he also made woodblock prints that were mainly executed in the style of papercuttings. He is an artist that is much more known in the East than in the West.