Authentic Edo-period woodblock print, Ho-o (Phoenix).

Wakan Meihitsu Gaei (Selected Paintings by Celebrated Japanese and Chinese Masters). A single loose printed leaf, Kan'en era, 1748-1751, mid-Edo period, during the reign of the ninth shogun, Tokugawa Ieshige. By Yoshimura Shuzan, published and printed by Shibukawa Seiemon. Mounted in a wooden frame fitted with a shikishi-sized glass pane.

Yoshimura Shuzan (1700-1776), born in Genroku 13 and deceased in An'ei 5, was an Osaka painter and netsuke carver of the Edo period. His family name was Yoshimura, his given name Mitsuoki, and his common name Shujiro. His art names included Shuzan, Tansen, an alternative form of Tansen, Sen, So, and Tankosai. He resided for a time at Aburamachi 2-chome, Shimanouchi, Osaka. A pupil of Niekawa Mitsunobu of the Tsuruzawa school, he was active from the Kan'en through the An'ei era and enjoyed a reputation comparable to that of Ōoka Shunboku.

According to Naniwa Maru Komoku (A Classified Survey of Osaka), published in An'ei 6 (1777), the Osaka painting world was then dominated by two principal schools, those of Ōoka Shunboku and Shuzan. The work lists eighteen pupils of Shuzan. He copied celebrated paintings both ancient and contemporary and compiled and published painting manuals, including Wakan Meihitsu Gaei (Selected Paintings by Celebrated Japanese and Chinese Masters), published in Kan'en 3 (1750), and Wakan Meihitsu Gaho (Treasury of Paintings by Celebrated Japanese and Chinese Masters), published in Meiwa 4 (1767). He was awarded the honorary rank of Hogen, although the date is unknown. He maintained extensive associations with Confucian scholars, calligraphers, and painters, including Miyake Shunro, Nakai Chikuzan, and Nakai Riken. He is said to have excelled in landscapes and figure painting and also frequently painted cranes.

Shuzan was also renowned as a netsuke carver. Soken Kisho (An Appreciation of Exceptional Sword Furnishings), published in Tenmei 1 (1781), places him first in its section on netsuke carvers and notes the distinctive use of applied color in his work. Although numerous imitations circulated, these were reportedly far inferior to his authentic carvings. Soken Kisho further records that Shuzan consulted illustrations in the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) and Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) when making netsuke. Nevertheless, netsuke carving remained a secondary pursuit, which he had abandoned by middle age. Even his son Shukei stated that he had rarely seen actual examples.

His grave is at Komyoji Temple, Shitaderamachi, Tennoji Ward, Osaka. His pupils included his son, Yoshimura Shukei, and Mori Shuho.