Honda Kinkichiro

• Born: 1850
• Died: 1921

Honda Kinkichirô was a Meiji period artist and cartoonist; he served as the first cartoonist for the influential newspaper Marumaru chinbun.

Kinkichirô originally studied surveying and drafting under a pair of Englishmen (oyatoi gaikokujin) at the Ministry of Construction, and then at their suggestion, began practicing oil painting, which he did under the tutelage of Kunizawa Shinkurô. He later attended a private academy in Hiroshima run by Nomura Fumio, who later invited him to join him on the Marumaru chinbun, which Nomura founded in 1877.

Kinkichirô produced political cartoons and other illustrations for the publication until 1882, when he left to take a job as drawing instructor for the Military Academy.

References

• Peter Duus, "The Marumaru Chinbun and the Origins of the Japanese Political Cartoon," International Journal of Comic Art 1 (1999), 50.