was a Japanese artist best known as a painter and a designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. He was self-taught in art, won numerous national and international prizes, and was one of the earliest Japanese artists to win an international audience.
Gekkà  was born Nakagami Masanosuke (Ã¥ÂÂé¡ æ£ä¹Âå©) in Kyà Âbashi Yazaemon-chà  in Edo (modern Tokyo) in 1859. His father, tradesman Nakagami Seijirà  (Ã¥ÂÂé¡ 渠次éÂÂ), died in 1876, and Gekkà  took to work in a lantern shop in Kyà Âbashi Yumi-chà Â.
Gekkà  was self-taught in art and began decorating porcelain and rickshaws, and designing flyers for the pleasure quarters. His early style shows the influence of the painter Kikuchi Yà Âsai. Around 1881, he took the surname Ogata at the insistence of a descendant of the painter Ogata Kà Ârin. He soon was designing prints and illustrating books and newspapers. In 1885, Gekkà  exhibited in the Painting Appreciation Society, and he became acquainted with art scholars Ernest Fenellosa and Okakura Kakuzà Â.
In 1886, Gekkà  produced the print series Gekkà  Zuihitsu (, "Gekkà ÂâÂÂs Random Sketches"). In 1888, he married an art student of his, Tai KikuâÂÂhis second marriageâÂÂand changed his family name to Tai. He was a judge in the , which he helped found in 1891. The First Sino-Japanese War was the subject of a number of triptychs he designed in 1894âÂÂ1895.
From the 1890s, Gekkà  won a number of national and international art prizes. He was one of the earliest Japanese artists to win international attention. At the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, he won a prize for ' (, "EdoâÂÂs Sannà  Festival"), and in 1904, he won the Gold Prize for the series ' (, "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji") at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. His work was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and at the Japan-British Exhibition in London in 1910. In 1898, at the Japan Art Association, Emperor Meiji bought his painting ' (, "Night Attack of the Soga"). He won third prize at the sixth in 1912.
Gekkà  died on 1 October 1920 in Shin-Ogawamachi in Ushigome Ward of Tokyo at age 61. His art names include Kagyà Ârà Â, Meikyà Âsai, Kiyà «, and Rà Âsai. He had few students, the best-known of whom was Kà Âgyo Tsukioka, the adopted son of Yoshitoshi.
His work was originally closely based upon that of Kikuchi YÃ Âsai; and he was inspired by Hokusai, creating a series of one hundred prints of Mount Fuji. However, he did develop his own style, with significant stylistic elements from nihonga.
Gekkà  was among the artists whose artwork informed the Japanese populace about the progress of naval and land war known today as the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894âÂÂ1895. A number of Gekkà Â's war images were published in Seishin Bidan by Yokoyama Ryohachi.
An impression of the Haiyang Island (Kaiyoto) Naval Battle in 1894 was prepared in a large-scale quadruptich format.
Among the widely circulated Sino-Japanese triptych images of the war, which were created by Gekkà  include:
Gekkà Â's published work encompasses 46 works in 48 publications in 2 languages and 68 library holdings.