Iwaya Ichiroku 巌谷一六

巌谷一六 Iwaya Ichiroku (1834-1905)
Calligrapher. Born in 1834 as the son of a doctor of the Omi Mizuguchi clan. Studied under Iesato ShoTou 家里松嶹, Nakazawa Setsujo 中沢雪城, Yo Shukei 楊守敬, Fujimoto Tetsuseki 藤本鐵石 and others. He created his own style of calligraphy, known as the Ichiroku school. Together with Kusakabe Meikaku 日下部鳴鶴 and Nakabayashi Gōchiku 中林梧竹, he is known as one of the Three Brushes of the Meiji Era. While active as a politician, he was also known as a Noh calligrapher and showed a unique style of calligraphy. He was also the father of Iwaya Sazanami 巌谷小波, who is regarded as the founder of modern Japanese children's literature.