Yowsaku Sekino

Yowsaku Sekino (関野洋作) was born in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, as the second son of Jun'ichirō and Katsuko Sekino in 1944. He graduated from Chuo University's School of Science and Technology in 1968.

Rather than immediately turning to art to make a living, Yowsaku went to work as a chemist at Shoketsu Metal Kogyo (SMC Corporation). But in 1971, he switched careers to become the technical assistant to his father, Sekino Jun’ichirō (1914-1988), a towering figure in the sosaku hanga print movement.

In 1976, Yowsaku opened his own European-style printing workshop where "he assisted various artists to produce their lithographs, etchings, engravings, drypoints and woodblock prints" and polished and expanded, through experimentation, the printmaking techniques he learned from his father.

In the early 1980s, he decided to become an artist himself, specializing in color woodblock printmaking. He became active in the Shun'yokai 春陽会 (Spring Principle Association) in 1984, and won numerous awards from the organization, including their 1988 Research Award (Kenkyū-shō 春陽会研究賞) and their 2004 Oka Shikanosuke Award (春陽会岡賞). Yowsaku is also a member of the Japan Artists Association (JAA).

Since 2007, Nihonbashi Takashimaya's prestigious Bijutsu Garou (art gallery) has shown his woodblock prints every year through solo or small-group shows. Yowsaku also exhibits in the annual exhibitions of the College Women's Association of Japan (CWAJ). At the 2015 opening reception for the 60th CWAJ exhibition, Her Majesty Empress Michiko of Japan purchased his print "Sakura (Cherry Blossoms)" for the Imperial Palace. Reviewing his work at the Portland Art Museum, the Portland Tribune quoted curator Jeannie Kenmotsu, who had watched him carve a block and called it “absolutely intricate and amazing.”

Recognition:

• Her Majesty Empress Michiko of Japan purchased "Sakura (Cherry Blossoms)" for the Imperial Palace in 2015.

Selected Exhibitions:

• The National Art Center, Shun'yo Art Society Exhibit, annual exhibits: 1984, 1988 (Research Award), 1989 (Encouragement Award), 1992 (Shun'yokai Prize), 2004 (Oka Shikanosuke Award). Tokyo, Japan
• Nihonbashi Takashimaya Art Gallery, annual group show: 1996-2005. Tokyo, Japan.
• Nihonbashi Takashimaya Art Gallery, annual solo exhibits: 2007, 2016. Tokyo, Japan.
• College Women's Association of Japan, annual exhibits: 2005-present. Tokyo, Japan.
• The Library of Congress, "On the Cutting Edge: Contemporary Japanese Prints", 2007.
• Miurart Village (Miura Museum), "Sekino Jun'ichirō and Yowsaku: A Father and Son Print Exhibition", 2014. Matsuyama, Japan.
• Aomori Prefectural Museum of Art, printmaking workshop instructor at "Shōwa Printmaker Sekino Jun'ichirō: Centenary", 2014. Aomori, Japan.
• Chofu City, "Sekino Jun'ichirō and Yowsaku: A Father and Son Woodblock Exhibition", 2017. Tokyo, Japan.
• Portland Art Museum, "Forces of Nature: Ecology in Japanese Prints", 2022. Portland, USA.
• Art House SF, The Language of Flowers, solo exhibits: 2025, 2026. San Francisco, CA.

Private and Public Collections:

• Library of Congress. Washington, DC, USA.
• Portland Art Museum. Portland, USA. Three woodblock prints in the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Graphic Arts Collection, accessioned 2017: Shitsugen (Wetlands), 1991; Akisame (Autumn Rain), 1992; and Michi: Bakushū no Toruko (The Road: Wheat Harvest in Turkey), 1990.
• University of Oregon, The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints. Eugene, USA.
• Empress Emerita Michiko of Japan. Sakura, purchased at the 60th CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo, 2015. Reported in Hanga Geijutsu No. 213, Autumn 2026.