Sakamoto Hanjirô (1882-1969)

In the beginning of his career, while making cartoons for Tokyo Puck Sakamoto Hanjirô met Yamamoto Kanae and Ishii Tsuruzô, and subsequently he worked with them on Hôsun from 1909-1911. Also in 1911 he published a collection of woodblock prints together with Yamamoto Kanae (Sôga Butai Sugata), and in 1918 he contributed five designs to Nihon fÅ«kei hanga - Japan scenery prints.
In 1921 he went to France, like so many of his contemporaries. On his return in 1924 he went to his birthplace, Kurume. He became a highly respected Western-style painter, receiving the Order of cultural merit in 1956.
His most important set of woodblock prints is Five Views of Aso, published by Katô Junji in 1950. After Sakamoto's death in 1969 his five prints for the Japan scenery prints were republished, also by Katô Junji.