Index of Japanese Painters

The Index of Japanese Painters has long been an invaluable source of reference to Westerners interested in knowing more about Japanese painters and paintings. Unfortunately, this little volume has been out of print for some years as the Society of Friends of Eastern Art, which first published the book, has since been disbanded.

The members of the Institute of Art Research who compiled the material for the text are presently making plans for a revised and enlarged edition. In the meantime, to meet the current demand for a book of this kind, we are pleased to be able to present this offset reprint of the original edition. We feel sure that, in spite of the misprints and minor errors that cannot be eliminated in this photographic reproduction, it will be of use to both students and connoisseurs of Japanese paintings.

For permission to reprint the Index in its original form our thanks are due to Mr. Moritatsu Hosokawa, former President of the now defunct Society of Friends of Eastern Art; to Professor Yukio Yashiro, former Director of the Institute of Art Research, Tokyo; and to Mr. Ichimatsu Tanaka, present Director of the Institute. Acknowledgments are also due to the late Mr. Sumio Ogushi, without whose editorial efforts, under the supervision of Professor Yashiro, the original book could not have been produced.

In order to give a clearer idea of the beginnings of the book and the people involved in its making, we are reproducing also the Preface and Introduction to the original edition.

1958 – Charles E. Tuttle Company

Since the Society of Friends of Eastern Art was organized in Tokyo in February 1940, it has been engaged in various activities such as lecture meetings, special art exhibitions, visits to private collections, and the publication of the monthly Bulletin of Eastern Art, etc., and we believe that it has contributed something to the advancement of the study of Eastern Art in general and to the promotion of international cooperation in artistic and intellectual work. What are still badly lacking at present seem to be the handy and elementary books such as concise biographical dictionaries of artists, guidebooks, dictionaries of subjects of paintings, and the like, which all lovers and scholars of Eastern art can use as convenient references. The Society of Friends of Eastern Art is planning to compile these much needed publications. It is our great joy that the Index of Japanese Painters is herewith published as the first fruit of our plan.The compilation of this Index was entrusted to the Institute of Art Research. The Society would like to express profound thanks to those members of the research staff who have been in charge of this work under the leadership of Professor Yashiro, Director of the Institute.

1940 – Moritatsu Hosokawa, President

At the time when the appreciation and the study of Eastern art has become world wide, it is the duty of Japanese scholars to publish reference books to aid students of all countries. To our regret we often find that the foreigners who study Eastern art or who come to Japan to study it have rather a difficult time because of the lack of any index or dictionaries of Japanese painters. So the Institute of Art Research expresses deep gratitude regarding this plan of the Society of Friends of Eastern Art to publish this book, Index of Japanese Painters, and the staff members of the Institute are glad to collaborate in every way possible.

The Index contains about six hundred names, with short biographies, of painters who are familiar in the reproductions and the articles which have been published for the past several years in important publications of the country. It is compiled on a far smaller and incomplete scale than was our ideal for this sort of book, which we hope to realize at some future time. But as it contains most of the famous painters whom we meet often in the study of Japanese art, we can recommend it with some conviction as a convenient book for all lovers and students of Japanese art.

1940 – Yukio Yashiro, Director Institute of Art Research