Kiichi Okamoto

Kiichi Okamoto (; 12 June 1888 – 29 December 1930) was a Japanese painter best known for his illustrations for children.

Early life Okamoto was born in Sumoto on Awaji Island in 1888. He and his family moved to Tokyo in 1892 for his father's promotion to the vice-president of Miyako Shimbun. When in elementary school, Okamoto encountered hand fans with beautiful paintings which fascinated him and motivated him to study painting.

In 1906, he was apprenticed to Seiki Kuroda to study yōga at the age of 18. Enthralled by Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, they held an exhibition challenging the conservative Bunten in 1912.

Okamoto was also active in the sōsaku hanga movement. The influence of William Nicholson can be seen in his hanga Portrait of N.O. He was also influenced by Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham. Kusuyama helped Okamoto expand his activities to include stage design, and also asked Okamoto to draw illustrations for a series of juvenile novels Mohan Katei Bunko, of which he was the editor-in-chief, in 1915.

Okamoto began drawing for Kin no Fune, a magazine of children's literature and songs, in 1919. Among the ardent readers were Chihiro Iwasaki and Seiichi Horiuchi, who would become leading illustrators for children in the mid-Shōwa period. Horiuchi admired Okamoto's ability to capture facial expressions.

Starting to work for Shōjo Club in 1923 and for Kodomo Asahi in 1924,

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