Ippei Okamoto

(June 11, 1886 – October 11, 1948) was a Japanese illustrator, cartoonist, and writer.

Biography Okamoto Ippei was the second son of the Confucian scholar Katei Okamoto. He studied Western-style painting at Tokyo School of the Arts under the instruction of Japanese painter Fujishima Takeji. He started working as a scenery painter for Teikoku Theater in 1910. After getting married, he set up in Kyobashi with his family.

Okamoto traveled to Europe and the United States and brought to Japan several comics. In 1912, he started to draw manga for the newspaper Asahi Shinbun. Manga artist Osamu Tezuka mentioned Okamoto as one of his main influences. In 1910, he married Kanoko Okamoto. In 1911, they had a son, the artist Tarō Okamoto (d.1996). He used to train younger drawers and after retiring, he helped his wife in her work as a novelist.