Fuji Thistle

Onda Tokuju was born in Gunma prefecture and came to Kyoto to study under the painters Hashimoto Gahō (1835–1908) and Noda Kyūho (1879–1971). Tokuju first succeeded to be accepted to the national Teiten exhibition in 1924 and consistently exhibited there every year for a decade. This painting of Fuji thistle (Cirsium purpuratum), which grow around Mount Fuji and is the biggest Japanese thistle, was featured in the Nitten national exhibition in 1940.