Akita ranga (秋田蘭画), also known as theAkita-ha (秋田派), was a short-lived school of painting within the larger Japanese genre ofranga, or Dutch-style painting which lasted roughly from 1773 to 1780. Based inKubota Domain, afeudal domain, in theTōhoku region ofHonshū, northern Japan, in what is nowAkita Prefecture, it was headed by thedomain's lordSatake Shozan and his retainerOdano Naotake. Though manyranga artists, most prominentlyShiba Kōkan, produced works on European themes, the Akita painters for the most part painted traditional Japanese themes and compositions using Western-style techniques and an approximation of oil paints.
Some of the chief features that distinguish Akitaranga from traditional Japanese painting (nihonga) are the inclusion of shadows, the use ofperspective, reflections in water, and the use of blue for sky and sea. In addition,ranga artists left little or no blank space on a work, emulating Western art traditions and going against East Asian ones, and used oils and resins in addition to Japanese pigments to simulate the appearance ofoil paint. Many of their works feature a large foreground subject which displays techniques in light and shadow, with a small, distant, landscape, displaying an understanding of perspective projection techniques.
The school got its start whenrangaku (Dutch studies) scholarHiraga Gennai was invited to help advise the domain on the management of its copper mines. The area was a primary provider of copper to the archipelago in this period, much of which was also exported via Dutch traders based atNagasaki. Though Gennai is known primarily as a physician, botanist and inventor, he was aranga painter as well, and mentored Shozan in Western artistic techniques.
Odano Naotake, one of Shozan's chief retainers, was then sent toEdo to live and study with Gennai for five years, and it is believed that he likely came into contact with a number of other artists andrangaku scholars during this time. Returning to Akita, he composed, along with Shozan, three treatises on Western style painting. These were among the first of their kind to be produced in Japan.
The school worked primarily from sketchbooks and from life studies of plants, birds, and insects. Since its members were all fairly wealthy, and of thesamurai class, they had little need to sell their works, but their influence was felt by some commercial artists, including Shiba Kōkan.
Hiraga Gennai was arrested and imprisoned in 1779 for killing one of his disciples in anger and frustration; he died himself soon afterwards. Odano Naotake, being closely associated with Gennai, was dismissed from his official position in Edo. The movement came to an end shortly after the death ofSatake Shozan in 1780 and Odano Naotake in 1785.