A potter and painter of the mid-Edo period. The third son of a wealthy Kyoto draper, and the younger brother of Korin Ogata. He learned calligraphy from his father Soken, painting from his brother Korin, and the potter’s craft from Ninsei Nonomura. At thirty-seven, in 1699, he opened a kiln at Narutaki to the north-west of Kyoto — the direction called “inui” — and took the name Kenzan. Many early works are collaborations, painted by Korin with an inscription by Kenzan. In 1712 he moved to Nijo Chojiyacho and made a great many works. Kenzan lived nearly thirty years after his brother’s death; in his last years he moved to Edo, and went on showing his skill in ceramics and painting until his death at eighty-one.