Kenichi Kuriyagawa

Born in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, in 1911; died in Sapporo in 1999. Kuriyagawa never attended art school — he gave up the plan at eleven, when his adoptive father died — and instead apprenticed as a cinema sign painter in Sapporo, Otaru and Hakodate, later learning plate-making at a Sapporo printing house. He opened his own studio in 1936 and established himself as an independent designer in 1948.

He was known in Japan and abroad for his posters promoting tourism in Hokkaido, the Sapporo Snow Festival, and the Winter Olympics bid, and in 1956 he was invited to exhibit eight posters at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a representative of Japan.

He founded the Hokkaido Design Institute in 1962, the first design school in Hokkaido, and in 1982 founded the Hokkaido Design Council and served as its first chairman. The Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art calls him the "father of Hokkaido design."

He received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix at the World Tourism Poster Contest, the Sapporo Citizen Art Award, the Hokkaido Cultural Award, and the Fifth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and Silver Rays). His designs are still seen in Sapporo, such as the subway wall designs and the drop curtain at the Sapporo Citizens Hall (today’s Wakuwaku Holiday Hall).

Recognition:

• Government of Hokkaido. Designer of the Hokkaido prefectural flag and emblem, selected from over 7,500 submissions. Adopted 1 May 1967. Sapporo, Japan
• Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, Fifth Class. 1992. Japan
• All Hokkaido Advertising Association. The Kuriyagawa Kenichi Award, established in his memory and presented annually to an outstanding creator. Hokkaido, Japan
• World Tourism Poster Competition, top prize at the 8th IUOTO competition, for "HOKKAIDO — Ainu Girl Playing the Mukkuri". 1953. Lisbon, Portugal
• World Tourism Poster Competition, top prize at the 11th IUOTO competition and first place in the public vote, for "HOKKAIDO — Lake Akan". 1956. Vienna, Austria
• All Japan Tourism Poster Competition. Minister of Transport Award for "Sapporo" (1969), Gold Award for "Tokachigawa Onsen" (1962), and Special Award for "Sunset and Cow Cart" (1951). Tokyo, Japan
• Minister of Education, Award for Regional Cultural Merit. 1986. Japan
• Hokkaido Culture Award (1983) and Sapporo Citizens Art Award, inaugural recipient (1972). Sapporo, Japan

Selected Exhibitions:

• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), "Modern Art in Japanese Advertising." Invited to exhibit eight posters as a representative of Japan. 1956. New York, USA
• Sapporo Art Park Museum, "Kenichi Kuriyagawa: Woven Lyricism, Hokkaido in Posters," retrospective. 1994. Sapporo, Japan
• Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, "Kenichi Kuriyagawa: The Appeal of Posters Depicting Wind and Poetic Sentiment," retrospective. 2014. Sapporo, Japan
• Art House SF, "Four Seasons" solo exhibit. 2025, 2026. San Francisco, USA

Public Collections:

• Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. 234 works, including the original paintings for his posters. Sapporo, Japan
• The Olympic Museum. Two Tokyo 1964 promotional posters; Sapporo 1972 candidature poster. Lausanne, Switzerland
• NOC*NSF Sports Heritage Collection. Official poster, XI Olympic Winter Games, Sapporo 1972. Arnhem, Netherlands
• Obihiro Museum of Art. Obihiro, Japan
• National Crafts Museum. Kanazawa, Japan
• Utsunomiya Museum of Art. Utsunomiya, Japan
• Chukyo University Sports Museum. Nagoya, Japan

Kuriyagawa's prints have been placed with private collectors through Art House SF in the United States (California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, Hawaii, Washington, Colorado, Michigan).