Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai was established by a group of young painters in Kyoto: Chikukyo Ono, Bakusen Tsuchida, Kagaku Murakami, Banka Nonagase, Shiho Sakakibara,and Hako Irie.
Kokuten was the shortened name of the society.
Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai was founded on the principle that it is imperative that any artist should have complete freedom of expression.

As Ryuzaburo Umehara, a friend of Bakusen Tsuchida, and Riichiro Kawashima gained membership in 1925, the society split into two parts. The first was the Japanese Painting Division, and the second was the Western Style Painting Division, which later developed into the current Painting Division. The first exhibition, named Kokuten, was held in the following year.
The Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai was dissolved in 1928, while its second division became an independent organization called Kokugakai.
However, it continued to use Kokuten as its shortened name.
At its founding stage, Kokugakai was influenced by Shigetaro Fukushima. It helped to introduce renowned western painters to Japan by organizing special exhibits every year. The artists shown included: Matisse, Bonnard, Rodin, Bourdelle, Bernard Leach, Rouault, Monet, Renoir, Chagall, Picasso, and Cezanne. These exhibitions not only helped members train themselves, but also contributed to influencing other artists in Japan, who until then had very little chance to see Western paintings.

In addition to the Painting Division, Printing, Sculpture, Craft, and Photography Divisions later came to form an organization consisting of five divisions. Since 1926, it has been holding Arts in Spring-Kokuten exhibitions every year at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, except in 1945. The 79th exhibition was held in 2005.

The motto of Kokugakai is its founding spirit of ﾒfree creationﾓ. It is regarded as a general arts organization that values individual styles, and is widely supported as a society capable of responding to diverse methods of expression and to the needs of the younger generations. The society is run by a governing council.

Recent events organized by the Society

1996 70th Anniversary Symposium: Future of the Earth and Arts-Towards the 21st Century
1997-2002 Three-part lectures by members of all five divisions [Three individual worlds of the three artists]
1997-2005 Charitable events at the venue of Kokuten [Nature Conservation and Social Welfare]

2001 75th Anniversary Exhibit [My World] by Selected Artists and Panel Exhibition [75 Years of Kokugakai]

2003 Panel Discussion [Possibilities-Public Entries of the 21st Century]
2004 Panel Discussion [Nature and Man-Slow Art]
2005 Panel Discussion [Slow Art-Expression and Territory]

Masters of Modern Japanese Art
The following is a list of pioneers of modern art in Japan. They were active members of Kokugakai, and their work greatly influenced artist both in and beyond Japan in the later years.

Painting Division:
Ryuzaburo Umehara, Ryuzaburo Umehara, Shintoku Yamawaki, Kokichi Ohasi, Sadao Tsubaki, Michisei Kouno,
Koutaro Takamura, Ryuki Nanbata, Katsu Miyasaka, Tashiro Takahata, Sigeo Miyata, Shunichi Kasiwagi,
Mamoru Kubo, Saneatu Mushanokouji, Yosinobu Masuda, Kaoru Ymaguchi, Yosio Aoyama, Tetsu Koda,
Kenkichi Sugimoto, Fumio Tsuchida, Yasuo Kougetsu, Tkao Yamazaki, Noboru Kunimatsu, Sigeo Hayashi,
Ren Itou, Teppei Ujiyama, Ichinen Somiya, Kigai Kawaguchi, Seiichi Hara, Kokuta Suda, Mitsutsuna Inoue,
Shouhei Matsuda, Kastuzo Satomi, Kiyoshi Koizumi, Shouji Harikae, Hiroshi Kanosue, Gentaro Komaki,
Yoshika Fujita.

Printing Division:
Unichi Hiratsuka, KoshiroOnchi, Hide Kawanishi, Sumio Kawakami, Shikou Munakata, Umetaro Azechi,
Jyunichiro Sekino, Gen Yamaguchi, Kihei Sasajima, Kiyoshi Saito.

Sculpture Division:
Takashi Shimizu, Yoshitatsu Yanagihara, Takezo Niimi, Toyoichi Yamamoto, Mitsuru Sekiya, Shigeru Chino,
Yuichi Sakurai, Toshio Ibaraki, Minoru Suzuki.

Craft Division:
Kenkichi Tomimoto, Muneyoshi Yanagi, Shouji Hamada, Bernard Howell Leach, Keisuke Serizawa, Kanjiro Kawai,
Yoshitaka Yanagi, Michitada Funaki, Yoshihiro Yanagi, Tatsuaki Kuroda.

Photography Division:
Yasuzo Nojima, Shinzo Fukuhara, Ihei Kimura, Iwata Nakayama, Genzo Kitakado, Kiyoshi Nishiyama,
Tomizo Yoshikawa, Buko Shimizu.

Renewal　 Sat, Aug 27, 2005