Miyagawa Choshun

• Born: 1682
• Died: 1752
• Other Names: 長左衛門 (Nagazaemon); 菱川長春 (Hishikawa Choushun)
• Japanese: 宮川長春 (Miyagawa Choushun)

Miyagawa Chôshun was an ukiyo-e artist, founder of the Miyagawa school and heavily influenced by the Kaigetsudô school. He was chiefly active from around 1704-1711 (the Hôei era) until around 1748-1751 (the Kan'en era), just before his death.

Possibly from Miyagawa village in Owari province, he studied painting under members of the Kanô and Tosa schools, and possibly fairly closely with Hishikawa Moronobu or his pupils.

Chôshun specialized in painting (nikuhitsuga) - neither he nor his pupils are known to have designed any prints. He produced mainly so-called "genre paintings" (fûzoku-ga) and images of beautiful women (bijinga). Like the members of the Kaigetsudô school, he excelled at the colorful and creative kimono designs on his beauties, and their statuesque quality.

He saw a considerable rise to prosperity in the first half of the 18th century, and developed a close relationship with a number of members of the Kanô school of painters.

In 1750, however, Chôshun was commissioned by a Kanô painter to contribute to the repair and rejuvenation efforts at Nikkô Tôshôgû, and was not paid. The Kanô painter's son was killed in the ensuing altercation, and Chôshun was banished from Edo for a year. He died soon after the end of his exile.

His pupils included Miyagawa Chôki, Isshô, and Shunsui.

References

• Lane, Richard. Images from the Floating World. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. pp. 89-90, 215.
• Morse, Anne Nishmura et al. The Allure of Edo: Ukiyo-e Painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (江戸の誘惑：　ボストン美術館所蔵　肉筆浮世絵展, Edo no yûwaku: Bosuton bijutsukan shozô nikuhitsu ukiyoe ten). Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun-sha, 2006. p187.