(b Kasanui, Omi Prov. [now Kusatsu, Shiga Prefect.], 1761; d Kasanui, 1832). Japanese priest and painter. The first half of his life is recorded in his autobiography. At the age of nine he became a Buddhist monk at the Jodo (Pure Land) sect temple Sokinji in Osaka. He left at the age of seventeen and went to Edo (now Tokyo), where he was admitted into the Jodo temple Zojoji in Shiba. Expelled later for frequenting the pleasure districts, he spent some years travelling. He returned to the Kyoto area and resumed his studies, later accepting a position as head priest at Gokurakuji on Mt Kinkoku, in northern Kyoto, from which he took his artist’s name. In 1788 Gokurakuji was destroyed by fire, prompting Kinkoku to become an itinerant preacher and painter. He travelled as far as Nagasaki, staying at Jodo temples and painting Buddhist deities and scenes from the life of Honen (1133–1212), the sect’s founder. These are executed in a rather folksy version of the Yamatoe (traditional Japanese painting) style, using bright, opaque colours (e.g. set of four handscrolls, Shiga Prefect., Soeji). Eventually Kinkoku settled in Nagoya where contact with a society of haiku poets inspired him to paint haiga (haiku paintings) in the style of Yosa Buson. He was introduced to Cho Gessho (1772–1832), from whom he learnt to paint figures in the Maruyama–Shijo style (see JAPAN, §VI, 4(viii)) and landscapes strongly influenced by Goshun.

• Yokoi Kinkoku
  • Japan, §VI, 4(vi)(d): Late foreign-influenced painting: Nanga
  • Kasen’e, §3: Muromachi period and later