Goda Kiyoshi

• Born: 1862/5/7
• Died: 1938/5/6
• Japanese:　合田清　(Gouda Kiyoshi)

Gôda Kiyoshi was a prominent modernist-style woodblock prints artist of the Meiji period.

Born in Edo on 1862/5/7, Gôda first traveled to France in 1880 at the age of eighteen, intending to pursue agricultural studies. He ended up sharing a room with painter Yamamoto Hôsui, and becoming a woodblock print artist; he tried to encourage Hôsui to pursue prints as well. Though his family name was originally Tashima, at some point he adopted the name Gôda.

After his return to Japan, he taught woodblock printing at the Seikôkan art studio/school he co-founded with Hôsui, while continuing to produce his own artwork, along with illustrations for newspapers and magazines. He also briefly worked as a teacher of French language at the Tokyo Fine Arts School.

He was a founding member in 1896 of the Shirabakai (White Horse Society) alongside Kuroda Seiki and a number of others.

References

• "Gôda Kiyoshi." Digital-ban Nihon jinmei daijiten デジタル版 日本人名大辞典. Kodansha, 2009.
• Harada, Minoru. Akiko Murakata (trans.). Meiji Western Painting. New York: Weatherhill, 1974. pp38-39.