Nukina Sūō
Illustration — Mount Unzen in Autumn by Nukina Kaioku, ink color on paper, hanging scroll, Honolulu Museum of Art Nukina Kaioku was a Japanese painter and calligrapher. He had many pseudonyms, but Kaioku (海屋) and Sūō (菘翁) are the most well-known. He was considered a leader in the field of Japanese calligraphy during the Edo period.
Also recorded as Nukina Kaioku · Bokurin · Sūō Shigeru · Shūseido
Nukina Sūō
Nukina Kaioku(1778 - 1863) 貫名海屋 · Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Gift of Mrs.Robert P.Griffing,Jr., 1967, accession 3495.1 · Public domain
- Born
- 1778 · Awa Province.
- Died
- 1863 · Shimogamo.
- Nationality
- Japan
- Occupation
- painter · calligrapher · scholar
- Teachers
- Nakai Chikuzan · Tesuō Somon
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Mount Unzen in Autumn by Nukina Kaioku, ink color on paper, hanging scroll, Honolulu Museum of Art Nukina Kaioku was a Japanese painter and calligrapher. He had many pseudonyms, but Kaioku (海屋) and Sūō (菘翁) are the most well-known. He was considered a leader in the field of Japanese calligraphy during the Edo period.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Nukina Sūō. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q6564123 · wikipedia · Nukina Kaioku
In this article
Early life
Early life
He was also good at painting in the Nanga style, which is a Japanese artistic style mean to emulate Chinese art and culture.
Training under Nakai Chikuzan and Tesuō Somon is recorded. Ikeuchi Daigaku, Hine Taizan and Taniguchi Aizan are recorded as having studied under Nukina Sūō. Work by Nukina Sūō is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Seattle Art Museum.
Nukina Kaioku was born on Shikoku in the Awa Province. Nukina Kaioku was born into a samurai family of hereditary archery instructors to the daimyō of the Hachisuka clan of the Awa Province. The typical samurai education included the martial arts, from which Kaioku's physical frailty exempted him, and Confucian philosophy, the Chinese classics, calligraphy and painting. He exhibited outstanding talent in calligraphy, and his uncle, who was a priest of the Kōyasan Shingon-shū on Mount Kōya, encouraged his interest in the writing style of Kūkai.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Awa Province.
Birth place
Shimogamo.
Death place
Legacy and style
By the end of his life, Kaioku was recognized both as one of the most outstanding calligraphers of his time and was also admired in his role as a scholar of Chinese writing styles. Along with Maki Ryoko and Ichikawa Beian, he was one of the renowned calligraphers in groups of three referred to as Sanpitsu, or three brushes, during the Bakumatsu period (Bakumatsu no Sanpitsu). His mature calligraphy style was conservative and fairly faithful to the orthodox tradition of the 4th-century Chinese master Wang Xizhi. He was also versatile, and his calligraphy shows a solid mastery of the major modes of Kara-e (Chinese-style) writing.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Nukina Kaioku”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q6564123: Nukina Sūō
General reference · Wikidata
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,183 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Notker PhysicusArtist
- Novak RadonićArtist
- Nugzar LoguaArtist
- Nuha al-RadiArtist
- Nune SiravyanArtist
- Nuno GonçalvesArtist
- Nur KoçakArtist
- NurnaningsihArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Nukina Sūō?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.