棟方志功

Shikō Munakata (1903–1975) was a Japanese woodblock printmaker who fundamentally reimagined the medium. Born in Aomori to a blacksmith's family, he initially pursued oil painting in Tokyo before encountering Kawakami Sumio's prints in 1926—a revelation that redirected his artistic path. From 1927, studying under Hiratsuka Unichi, Munakata developed a distinctive vocabulary for his practice, calling his works *itaga* (board pictures) rather than prints, emphasizing the material's inherent power.