Japanese Bronze by Itô KUNIO – Swimming Horses

Itô KUNIO (????, 1890-1970), born in Iwate, Japan, was a Japanese sculptor and artist known for devoting his life to creating bronze horse sculptures.

He exhibited at the National Bunten Exhibition and the National Art Society Exhibition, among others. He is widely recognized for his expert depiction of horses in motion. "Rush of a Gun Carriage" (Horses Pulling a Gun Carriage Through the Mud) by the artist is housed at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. His sculpture of Emperor Meiji's horse (under the supervision of the Imperial Service) stands among 700 cherry trees in Atago Park, Noheji, Aomori Prefecture. Two large sculptures of a horse and a horse with its foal are on the grounds of the Hokkaido Agricultural School.

For more, see the 1968 book: Uma, Itô Kunio no Chokoku (sculptures of Itô Kunio, by Genjiro Kuribayashi).