Hoka Iwabuchi

Hoka Iwabuchi was born in Niigata Prefecture and trained as a painter in Tokyo. From 1926, he travelled through China for several years and returned to Japan in the spring of 1929. He then resumed his studies and changed his name to Hoka. After having exhibited at various official exhibitions of Japanese artists himself for many years, he also had the position of a judge for quite some time. From 1948 until shortly before his death, he worked as a teacher in Shimodate (now part of Chikusei). Iwabuchi then moved to Tokyo and died after a short illness.

He painted in the traditional Japanese style and was regarded as Japan’s last “literary” painter. Girls’ Shooting Contest or just Archery was first selected for the Teiten Exhibition in 1932 and has since been shown at various official exhibitions.