Hakou Irie (1887–1948) was a Japanese-style painter born in Kyoto who was active from the Taishō to the Shōwa periods. He studied at the Kyoto Municipal School of Fine Arts, and his work *Subduing the Demons* was highly acclaimed at an exhibition organised by the National Painting Creation Association. During his trip to Europe in 1922, he encountered ancient and Renaissance Italian paintings, and subsequently incorporated a Western sense of composition into his work. At the same time, he maintained a deep interest in traditional and Buddhist paintings, and in his later years was involved in a project to copy the murals in the Kondo Hall at Hōryū-ji Temple. He was an artist who assimilated both Eastern traditions and Western art within himself, establishing a unique style of Japanese painting characterised by a quiet poetic sensibility.

In Namiko’s works, there is a sensibility that seeks not to dramatise figures or landscapes, but rather to meticulously depict even the atmosphere that envelops the entire canvas. There is a tranquillity in the subdued colours and carefully constructed compositions, drawing the viewer deeper into the work the more one looks at it. To me, the unique charm of Namiko lies in the way she, whilst studying the classics, did not remain confined to old styles, but quietly fused what she gained from both Eastern and Western painting through her own sensibility.