Asada Benji (1899-1984)

Benji Asada was born in Kameoka, near Kyoto in 1899 and in 1914 he enrolled in the Kyôto City School of Fine Arts and Crafts (Kyôto Shiritsu Bijutsu Kôgei Gakkô), graduating in 1924. In 1927 he changed his name from Benji Nakanishi to Benji Asada, and in 1928 he participated in the publication of the magazine Han ("Prints"), together with Un'ichi Hiratsuka, Maeda Masao, Azechi Umetarô and his friend Tokuriki Tomikichirô. In 1929 he was a founding member of the Kyoto Sôsaku-Hanga Kyôkai, and he also started studying Nihonga ( = Japanese style) painting with Nishimura Goun.
Until WWII he was active in all leading Hanga groups, but after the war he abandoned woodblock making and devoted all his energy to Nihonga, exhibiting paintings with the Nitten.