NISHIMOTO Taikan

NISHIMOTO Taikan （1948-） Flower arrangement artist, sumi ink artist (Nanga style). Born in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. Currently resides in Miki City. Born Nishimoto Toshihiro. Master of Seika Sodo. As a young child he learned Nanga-style painting from his grandfather Kouhou, who was a businessman as well as a Chinese-style landscape painter, and he mastered sumi ink painting. He subsequently proceeded to flower arrangement. Obtained a certificate of proficiency in Nara, and then became a major teacher of bronze flower techniques putting flowers in bronze ware, such as “Shikotei,” which is peonies in bronze ware. His stance of loving vegetation is similar to Shugen-do ascetic training, and he is a hermit who seems like a mad monk. In recent years he has also shown skill with art flowers, and he has been developing new frontiers through things such as collaboration with Tanigaki, the representative of Ange Paris Co. He expresses medicinal plants’ magic and power to revive through grass, bamboo, and willows, and "Kusanagi no Tsurugi," which has seven branches of big camellia scattered on a bronze mirror, has received various awards outside Japan. He wrote an eleven-volume overview of the traditions of flower arrangement called “Seika” (co-written with Morisawa Miyako of Japanese literature) (out of print). He creates worlds of ancient votive flowers, dance, and Noh, and he exhibits genius in a variety of fields. He has received various awards such as art grand prizes. He is a flower arrangement artist who has left major achievements in the fine arts.