page_title: Kiichi Okamoto
section_title: Career in children's media
hierarchical_section_title: Kiichi Okamoto / Career in children's media
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 日本童画家協会の創設者 English: Founders of the Japan Association of Illustrators for Children
context_page_description: Kiichi Okamoto was a Japanese painter best known for his illustrations for children.
context_section_description: In 1914, upon his marriage, Okamoto moved next door to Kusuyama Masao, a popular theater critic and translator of Western literature. Kusuyama helped Okamoto expand his activities to include stage design, and also asked Okamoto to draw illustrations for a series of juvenile novels Mohan Katei Bunko, of which he was the editor-in-chief, in 1915.
  Okamoto began drawing for Kin no Fune, a magazine of children's literature and songs, in 1919. Knowing Ujō Noguchi through his jobs, Okamoto drew illustrations for Noguchi's works.
  In 1922, Okamoto was named chief illustrator for Kodomo no Kuni from its second issue. Kodomo no Kuni was sold at a half yen per copy, relatively expensive compared to rival magazines, but was enough competitive due to its high quality of the pictures.  Among the ardent readers were Chihiro Iwasaki and Seiichi Horiuchi, who would become leading illustrators for children in the mid-Shōwa period. Horiuchi admired Okamoto's ability to capture facial expressions.
  Kodomo no Kuni was completely different from any other book I had ever read. A picture of beautiful evening primroses looked as if they were whiffling with scent in the dusk... I fell in love with Okamoto's pictures...
  — Chihiro Iwasaki, 1968
  Starting to work for Shōjo Club in 1923 and for Kodomo Asahi in 1924, Okamoto became the most popular illustrator for children in Japan in the 1920s. In 1927, he participated in forming the Japan Association of Illustrators for Children with Takeo Takei, Tomoyoshi Murayama and other painters.
  He had been busy with his work until just a few days before he died of typhoid fever at the age of 42 in Tokyo.
caption: Founders of the Japan Association of Illustrators for Children
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