Japanese woodblock printer Haruyoshi Nagae was initially a painting school student in Kyoto and a pupil of Takada Kakushu, who encouraged him to start his own business after the military service designing the traditional Nishijin brocade. In the late 1920s he began to produce self-carved and printed moku-hangas. Nagae received awards at the Kyoto Crafts and Art Association exhibitions but was controversial. He also studied under Kikuchi Keigetsu, who was teaching at the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting. In 1932, Nagae received an Honorable Mention at the Olympic art competition for “Mushisumo” (“A wrestling match among insects” or “Insect Sumo”), created in 1930 and renamed from “Shōni yū mushi” (“Children’s Play with Insects”). The woodblock print shows children watching the fight of two stag beetles! Later, Nagae founded the Kyō-ban magazine. In 1935, he took part in the Nihon Hanga Kyōkai Exhibition for the last time with a print and returned to designing fabrics. During the war, he survived taking various jobs. After the end of the war, Nagae could no longer work due to illness and finally died during a hospital stay. Haruyoshi Nagae is listed in the art catalog under the apparently incorrectly transcribed name Eijiryo Naga.
Japan