Yi Fujiu

• Chinese/Japanese: 伊孚九 (Yī Fújiǔ / I Fukyuu)

Yī Fújiǔ was a Chinese painter active in Nagasaki.

Originally coming to Japan as a shipping broker, Yi would make a number of journeys back and forth between China and Japan, beginning in 1720; the latest record of his presence in Japan is dated to 1747. On that initial journey, made when he was 23 years of age, Yi was involved in the delivery of a group of horses requested by Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. The Qing court had banned the export of horses, so Yi and his fellow crewmen sailed at night in order to avoid notice from officials. Their ship eventually made port in Satsuma province, and Yi was able to make his way into Nagasaki on a trading permit issued in his brother's name.

Though certainly not among the great names of the Chinese art historical canon, Yi had a certain degree of influence in Nagasaki upon Japanese artists, and is counted among the members of the "Nagasaki school" of painters.

References

• Marius Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World, Harvard University Press (1992), 64.