Oba Gakusen 大庭学僊

大庭学僊 Ōba Gakusen (1820-1899)
Born in Tokuyama in Bunsei 3. Second son of sword smith Miyoshi Yojibei. He loved painting from an early age, and at the age of 11, he studied under Asakura Nanryo, a painter of the Tokuyama domain, and took the name Nanko. At the age of 15, he studied under Hara Bunki, who was a pupil of Tani Buncho, and at 18, he entered the school of Oda Kaisen in Kyoto. He excelled in landscape and flower-and-bird paintings.
After moving to Hagi, he took the name Oba from the temple priest Oba of Doshun-ji, and called himself Oba Gakusen. He lived a simple life throughout his life, and was a close friend of Daitoku-ji temple abbot and master Zesei Sohan. He also went by the name Tanpakuan Mutoku and was deeply devoted to Buddhism. He spent most of his later years at his home in Tanaka-cho, Shimonoseki, where he died in 1897 at the age of 80.