Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828). Given name: Sakai Tadamoto. Nickname: Kishin. Gō: Hōitsu, Keikyo Dōjin, Kuzentō, Nison’an, Niwabyōshi, Ōson, Toryū, Ukaan.

Born in Edo (Tokyo), the second son of Lord Sakai of Himeji Castle in Harima province, Hōitsu moved to Kyoto to study Kanō school painting. He then moved on and studied various styles including ukiyo-e under Utagawa Toyoharu (1735–1814), Maruyama with Watanabe Nangaku (1767–1813), nanga with Sō Shiseki (1712-1786) and finally, on the advice of Tani Bunchō (), he became a Rimpa school painter. He was well versed in the classics, poetry and Noh.

In 1797 he became a Buddhist priest and spent the last twenty one years of his life in seclusion, painting and studying the life and works of Ogata Kōrin (1658-1716). Hōitsu published two influential books of woodblock prints reproducing the paintings of Kōrin and Kenzan; Kōrin Hyakuzu in 1815 and Kenzan Iboku Gafu in 1823, as well as a book of his own works called Ōson Gafu. From 1707 the Sakai family had supported Kōrin with a daily allowance and had a large collection of his works, which seem to have influenced Hōitsu greatly.

Works by the artist can be found in the collections of: Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York; The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Atami Art Museum, Shizuoka Prefecture; Brooklyn Museum, New York; The British Museum, London; Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, UK; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.; Freer Gallery of Art, Washington; Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis; Itsuo Art Museum, Ōsaka; Lake Biwa Cultural Hall, Ōtsu; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum fűr Kunst und Gerwerbe, Hamburg; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; Nelson Gallery, Atkins Museum, Kansas City; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Ōkura Shūko-kan, Tokyo; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Rietberg Museum, Zurich; Staatliche Museen Berlin; Seattle Art Museum, Washington; Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo; Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Worcester Art Museum, Mass.; Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo.