Which Japanese artists are famous worldwide?
Names that probably come to mind for many foreigners are Edo period ukiyo-e printmakers such as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Sharaku.
This may be because these artists have influenced many European artists such as van Gogh and Monet.
Presently, internationally popular nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artists include Sugiyama Yasushi, Higashiyama Kaii, Takayama Tatsuo, Kayama Matazo, and Hirayama Ikuo; each of these five coincidentally have the character for mountain (yama) in their names, and so are known as "The Five Mountains of Japanese Painting" (Nihonga no gozan).