Original woodblock print, Published by Kyoto hanga'in 京都版画院 - Paper - Wada Sanzō (1883-1967) - "Shichifukujin zu" 七福神図 ((The Seven Gods of Good)- Japan - 1970-80 恵比寿(Ebisu)、大黒(daikoku)、弁財天(benzaiten)、布袋(hotei)、寿老人(jurōjin )、福寿楼(Fukuju-rou)、毘沙門天( bishamonten) wada sanzou(memo) Born on March 3, 1883 in Hyōgo prefecture in the western Kansai region of Honshu, the main Japanese island, Sanzō was the fourth son of Wada Bunken? (和田文硯), an official physician in the Kutsuki domain (current day Fukuchiyama City in Kyoto prefecture) who worked as a doctor at the Ikuno Mine and at an elementary school. One of Sanzō's elder brothers Shōzō studied Western painting at the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō (Tokyo School of Fine Arts), becoming friends with the painter Shirataki Ikunosuke (1873-1960), died prematurely at the age of 20. In 1899, at the age of sixteen, and over the objection of his father, he dropped out of the Fukuoka Prefectural Shuyukan Middle School to study painting in Tokyo. Nagao Kenichi 長尾建吉 (1860-1938), a lacquer craftsman and a creator of custom picture frames for painters (and possibly, also, Shirataki Ikunosuke) convinced the famous Western-style (yōga) oil painter Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924) to take on Sanzō as a houseboy and Wada was to study at Kuroda’s Hakubakai (White Horse Society), going on to attend the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1901, where he studied Western-style painting, graduating in 1904. In 1905 he exhibited and won an award at the 10th Hakubakai exhibition for his painting Bokujō no banki (Evening return at the pasture) and in 1907 he exhibited his painting Nampū (South Wind) winning the Second Prize (the highest award) at the first Ministry of Education art exhibition, Bunten. South Wind garnered him early acclaim from critics and the public and was so well regarded that he was allowed to exhibit at future exhibitions without the usually required prior approval. Publisher seal: 'Kyoto hanga'in-ban' 京都版画院版 Printer: Oono 大野