Onchi Kōshirō was a printmaker, book designer, and leader of the sōsaku hanga print movement. Onchi is best known for his abstract prints, experimental printing methods, and promotion of printmaking as a high art. Born in Tokyo, Onchi was the son of a high-ranking official, and his privileged early education in a German middle school gave him access to Western artistic influences, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Edvard Munch. He briefly studied oil painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts before cofounding the print and poetry magazine Tsukuhae (Moonglow) in 1914. He participated in the Nihon Sōsaku Hanga Kyōkai (Japanese Creative Prints Association) and was a leader in the Nihon Hanga Kyōkai (Japanese Prints Association). He established the print study group the Ichimokukai (First Thursday Society) in 1939. He was sent to China as a war artist in the late 1930s, and after the war he hosted weekly meetings for printmakers at his home until his death at sixty-three.
