Grave of HANABUSA Itcho

HANABUSA Itcho (the original surname was FUJIWARA, posthumous name was Yasuo) was born in 1652 at Kyoto, and he went to Edo to study painting under Kano Yasunobu, the official painter of the TOKUGAWA Shogunate. In those days he painted using pseudonym Taga Choko, at the same time he was active as haikai poets having a good relationship with MATSUO Basho and his leading disciple ENOMOTO Sokaku.

However, in 1698 he was exiled to Miyake-jima Island on certain charge. In this island, he made a living with painting for the islanders or clients of Edo. When he returned to Edo, having been pardoned by amnesty due to the death of the 5th Shogun TOKUGAWA Tsunayoshi, he named HANABUSA Itcho as pseudonym, and changed his sobriquet to Hokusoo. Since then he painted daily lives of Edo City and rose to fame as genre painter. He died on January 3rd in 1724.

At first, HANABUSA Itcho was buried at Kenjoin Temple, which was Tatchu (sub-temple) of Jokyo-ji Temple, but when this temple fell into disrepair, his tomb was moved to Jokyoji Temple. And in 1912, he was reburied to Ikegami Honmon-ji Temple.

The tomb of HANABUSA Itcho in Jokyo-ji Temple which was broken by the Ansei Great Earthquake (1855) was reproduced by son descendant HANABUSA Issei. On his gravestone, there are inscriptions of his name Hokusoo in front, his death poem in left side, and his date of death in right side and reason of reproduction in back.