The Legacy of Jun'ichi Iwata

Jun'ichi Iwata first met Yumeji Takehisa (a famous Japanese poet and painter during the Taisho era) in 1915, when he was 15 years old. They had already been corresponding for a while, but it was then that Yumeji visited Toba with his lover to meet Jun'ichi.

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In 1918, at the age of 18, Jun'ichi visited Kyoto to help Yumeji prepare for the second Yumeji Takehisa Lyrical Painting Exhibition. At 23, he entered the Jingū Kōgakkan University but dropped out because of his deep admiration for Yumeji. Instead, he enrolled as one of the first students at the Tokyo Bunka Gakuin's Fine Arts Department, where Yumeji was teaching. During his time there, Jun'ichi stayed at Yumeji’s Boyhood Mountain Villa in Matsuzawa Village (now Setagaya, Tokyo), and there were periods when he worked as Yumeji’s assistant, creating works in his place.

In 1927, Jun'ichi edited the "Yumeji Lyrical Painting Collection" and also wrote its commentary.