Kida Kinjiro 1958 Falling Sun - Drawing. Public domain image.

He is one of the leading artists in the Hokkaido Western painting world. Born in Iwanai in 1893 (Meiji 26), he developed a passion for painting while continuing fishing, and through his fateful encounter with Takeo Arishima, he decided to spend his life in Iwanai and continue painting. Before long, Arishima wrote a novel about his relationship with Kida and published it as ‘Umare Izuru Nayami’ and became known as a model painter. Encouraged by Arishima, he continued to paint the nature around Iwanai in his hard life as a fisherman, and after the death of Takeo Arishima, he abandoned his family business and fishing, to devote his life to painting. In 1954 (Showa 29) his earlier works were burnt in the Big Iwanai Fire (80% of the city was destroyed by fire.), following the fire he continued to create actively and lived his life, cultivating his own painting environment without leaving his hometown of Iwanai. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1962 at the age of 69.