“Kosugi Hoan (Kosugi Kunitaro, 1881–1964, painter and poet) was born in Nikko (Tochigi Prefecture) in 1881. With Morita Tsunetomo (1881–1933) and others, he established Shunyokai (an association of artists) in 1922. He visited Lake Tazawa in August 1929 with Hashimoto Kansetsu (1883–1945) and Yamanaka Rankei (1883–1975), and stayed in Katajiri. The village of Katajiri enjoyed tranquility and prosperity along the Katajiri River, where its fishing and charcoal making industries flourished. At that time, the river flowed slowly at the mouth of the lake, sped up around Katajiri Bridge, then flowed into the Hinokigawa River.
Hoan composed a poem in summer 1929:
Mizumi-no-yube-no-mizu-no-otsurunari (Colored by the setting sun, water of the lake falls [into a river])
Ie-nanatsuaru-Katajiri-no-mura (at the village of Katajiri with seven houses).”
(Translation of the explanation board by Semboku City.)
For more information about Kosugi Hoan, see his biography at the Kosugi Hoan Museum of Art at Nikko.