Otsuki, Bankei

About the artist

Name

Otsuki, Bankei

Biography

Otsuki Bankei was a leading scholar of Chinese learning (kangaku) and also a gunnery expert. He studied at the Shoheiko academy in Edo and later became head of the Sendai domain school, Yokendo. In 1849 he published a treatise advocating the opening of Japan to trading relations. Having fought on the losing side in the civil war surrounding the Meiji Restoration, in 1869 he was arrested and imprisoned for several months.

In Japanese culture a person's family name comes first, so this artist's name is written Otsuki Bankei.

Subjects

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