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The son of a physician in Nagoya, Oishi Matora studied with Chô Gesshô and Watanabe Shûkei; he worked also in Edo and Osaka; practiced his own brand of Tosa-style drawing and painting. He died fairly young, possibly the result of alcoholism, and was said to have had episodes of insanity; he is considered masterful at depicting historical and contemporary history and costume of both the upper and lower classes.<br/><br/>His 'Soga kokufu’ is judged to be among his more impressive book productions, with its large size, excellent paper, and exquisite 2-color overprinting known in very fine impressions. It might have been targeted for distribution among samurai patrons as its subjects were the activities of the court and shrines.<br/><br/>The ‘Soga hyakubutsu’ was smaller in size and probably intended for a wider audience, perhaps even ukiyo-e style patrons, as it generally depicts daily activities of the lower classes. It shows a freer sketching style than the previous work