The Legacy of a Kyoto Clan: Mochizuki Gyokusen and the Nanga Tradition Mochizuki Gyokusen, born in Kyoto in 1794 and passing away in 1852, represents not merely an individual artist but the continuation of a vibrant lineage within the Japanese art world. He was the third generation principal of the Mochizuki school, a clan deeply rooted in the aesthetic principles of Nanga painting – a style that embraced literati traditions imported from China and infused them with uniquely Japanese sensibilities. To understand Gyokusen is to trace the evolution of this artistic approach through the Edo per…