Kanzan Shimomura was the pseudonym of a nihonga painter in Meiji. with his real name being Shimomura Seizaburō.
Born in Wakayama city into a family of hereditary Noh actors, Shimomura relocated to Tokyo at age eight, there he studied under the guidance of Kanō Hōgai and later Hashimoto Gahō. After graduating at the top of his class from the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (now the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music) he began teaching there in 1894. In 1901, Kanzan joined the Japan Fine Arts Academy (Nihon Bijutsuin) alongside notable figures such as Okakura Tenshin, Yokoyama Taikan, and Hishida Shunsō, though he returned to his teaching position at Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō until 1908, with a study period in England from 1903–1905. He played a key role in reestablishing the Japan Fine Arts Academy in 1914 and was appointed court painter to the Imperial Household Agency in 1917. Kanzan also served as a judge for the Bunten and Inten Exhibitions.
His artistic style merged influences from the Rinpa and Kanō schools, early Buddhist paintings, and Tosa school Emakimono with the realism he encountered in Western art during his time in England. One of his notable works, the byōbu titled "Yoroboshi" or "The Beggar Monk" (1915), is now housed in the Tokyo National Museum as an Important Cultural Property.
