Rai San’yō (頼山陽)

Rai San’yō (頼山陽) was an artist and writer whose verifiable activity spanned the early 19th century, documented between 1800 and 1826. The artist's known works held in institutional collections demonstrate proficiency across multiple media, including painting and formal calligraphic texts.

Rai San’yō (頼山陽) is represented in major American collections, establishing the historical credibility of his output. Five works are documented in museum databases, including two paintings and three textual or poetic compositions. The paintings represented are Cherry Blossoms at Yoshino and Unexpected Meeting on the Yodo River. The non-pictorial works include Letter, A Chinese Verse on “Compiling History”, and Poem Accompanying an Over Robe (Uchikake) with a Bamboo Painting by Gion Nankai.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds key examples of the artist's legacy, securing the preservation of these works for scholars and the public. Today, the enduring interest in Rai San’yō (頼山陽) prints and related works ensures that reproductions are often available as high-quality prints derived from public domain sources.