Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Biography Ippei, Okamoto 一平 岡本 (1886 - 1948)

Okamoto Ippei was born in 1886.
He studied under Kubota Beisen in Tokyo. Fellow students were Natori Shunsen, Kawabata Ryūshi and Okamura Dogyu.
After his studies Ippei Okamoto became a cartoonist for Asahi Shimbun.
At the same time, he created comics for several magazines. Cartoon art was booming in the 1920’s. One of his best-known fellow cartoonists was Maekawa Sempan. Various books appeared with his work in them. In 1921, he made Nakimushi Dera no Yawa, before he started travelling around the world.
When he returned in Japan, he introduced American comics like Mutt and Jeff and Bringing up Father to the Japanese public. His book with caricatures, Shin Mizu ya Sora, was very famous.