"B. Yamagata prefecture. Studied under Kosaka Gajin in 1923. From 1927 exhibited regularly with Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai. In 1928 produced commercial advertisements for the Japan Wool Company from moku-hanga. Also designed moku-hanga labels for Nikka whiskey and ca. 40 different poster designs printed by Uchida Hidekichi with a watercolor printing machine. In 1931 founded Tokyo Advertisement Art Association (Tokyo Kokoku Bijutsu Kyokai); name later changed to Tokyo Kokoku Sakka Kurabu (Tokyo Advertising Creator's Club). During 1923-1933 also studied with Ishii Kendo, an authority on ukiyo-e. Contributed to One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo (Dai Tokyo hyakkei), 1932. In 1942 founded Shin Hanga Kyokai with Azechi Umetaro and Takayama Uichi. Also active in Nihon Hanga Hokokai, the wartime organization in which shin-hanga and sosaku hanga artists worked together in the hope of obtaining materials for their work. At one time his prints were published byKyoto Hanga-in. In 1946 he established a publishing firm known as Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho (Japan Print Institute) to promote popularity of hanga after the war. The company made facsimile reproductions of Hiroshige prints and possibly other ukiyo-e from recut blocks. In 1948 Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho dissolved; in 1954 Gihachiro established a workshop known as Okuyama Hanga Kobo in Matsudo where he published his own landscape prints and made facsimile prints from Japanese and Chinese ink paintings and works of Western artists. Gihachiro's son Gijin was in charge of carving in the Matsudo studio and in 1973 took over the management. Yoroi Bridge from early in Gihachiro's career, and Yagiri Ferry landing in Snow, 1972, are representative of his more than 1,000 prints." --'Guide to Modern Japanese Prints: 1900-1975' by H. Merritt and N. Yamada

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