Katsuzo Takahashi

Born in Watari District, Mutsu Province (now Watari Town, Miyagi Prefecture), Takahashi settled in Hokkaido in 1871 with the Watari Date clan’s pioneer group. From 1875 to 1877, he moved to Tokyo to train as a telegraph operator. After serving in the Seinan War, Takahashi returned to his hometown and then made another living in Tokyo, this time with the aim of becoming a Japanese-style painter. In 1885, while engaged in painting handkerchiefs for exports in Yokohama, Takahashi was hired as a craftsman in San Francisco. Later, he was enrolled at the California School of Design and showed up at many exhibitions. After moving to Chicago, he studied theater backdrop painting. Upon returning to Japan in 1893, Takahashi established the Shibayama Institute in Shiba, Tokyo and adopted the artist name “Shizan,” using the Chinese pronunciation of Shibayama. There, he mentored younger artists and also devoted himself to promoting Japanese theater art. In 1894, at the sixth Meiji Bijutsu-kai (Meiji Fine Arts Society Exhibition), he displayed works he created in the United States, including some oil paintings and over 20 watercolors. His expressive skills in watercolors inspired artists like Kokki Miyake to venture to the United States. Thereafter, Takahashi gradually distanced himself from the central art scene. Around 1912, he returned to Hokkaido and his hometown Watari, where he continued to work modestly. He died in Tokyo in 1917.