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Okada.
Japanese family of painters. (1) Okada Beisanjin is first documented as a rice merchant in Osaka in the 1770s and 1780s. His go (artist’s name), Beisanjin, literally meaning ‘a man of a mountain of rice’, may either relate to his profession or reflect deference to the Northern Song-period (960–1127) painter Mi Fu, whose family name also means ‘rice’. By the 1790s he held samurai rank and a position with Lord Todo as overseer of the grain warehouses in Osaka. When he retired from Lord Todo’s service about 1809, his son (2) Okada Hanko replaced him, and on Beisanjin’s death Hanko inherited the post. The family were known as literati (Nanga or Bunjinga) painters (see JAPAN, §VI, 4 (vi)(d)). The following members have entries:
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