Born as a second son to Hidai Tenrai and Shokin Hidai, Nankoku studied under his father, Hidai Tenrai.
Read MoreFollowing his father's death, the artist inherited his father's calligraphy research institute, "Shogakuin" and subsequently began managing thousands of precious monuments whilst simultaneously reopening the Shogakuin Publishing Department to publish high-quality educational literature. In 1945, he created his first avant-garde work, "Den no Variation" (lit. Lightning Variation), and displayed it the following year, shocking his fellow contemporaries.
The artist has held numerous solo exhibitions in cities such as Tokyo and New York and has been invited to participate in contemporary exhibitions. The artist's work has been acquired by several prominent collections, such as New York's MoMA and Hong Kong's M+, and has given talks on calligraphy at 20 universities, such as Princeton and Columbia.
Text courtesy √K Contemporary.
