The so-called Toyoga refers to the modern Japanese paintings that were imported into Taiwan during Japanese colonial rule. Its origins lay with the Japanese Painting Division of the Ministry of Education Art Exhibition (Bunten) from 1907. Along the lines of the Chosun Art Exhibition from some years prior, the Taiten was set up in 1927, with the Japanese Painting Division and the Western Painting Division juxtaposed as the two officially sanctioned exhibitions. An examination of the works on display in the Taiten reveals that works that imitated traditional ink-and-water paintings were excluded almost from the outset and the Toyoga, with a focus on elegant and delicate sketches, predominated. Contemporary Japanese and Taiwanese painters active in Taiwan were known for constant innovation and refashioning own style, putting on a lively and diverse presence in official art exhibitions. Established around 1930, the Chun Meng (Spring Bud) Painting Society and the Sendan Group as research institutions were arguably the products of such a push to polish the works to be shown at the Japanese Painting Division of Taiten.

1.The Chun Meng (Spring Bud) Painting Society
Born in Chiayi, Lin Yu-Shan started his training in Japan in 1926 and in the very next year was selected into the Japanese Painting Division of Taiten along with Chen Chin and Kuo Hsueh-Hu, becoming dubbed the “Three Youths of Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition”. In 1928, in launching the painting research group “Chun Meng (Spring Bud) Painting Society”, Lin Yu-Shan along with Chu Fu-Ting enlisted in Chiayi and Tainan such painters as Pan Chun-Yuan, Wu Zuo-Chuan, Lin Tung-Ling, Huang Ching-Shan, Shih Yu-Shan, Hsu Ching-Lian, Pu Tian-Sheng, Chen Zai-Tian and others. Their first exhibition was held in the Tainan Public Hall in the spring of 1930 but shortly afterward they moved their operation to Chiayi to be later joined in succession by Chang Li Te-He, Lu Yun-Sheng, Huang Shui-Wen, Li Chiu-He and others who followed Lin Yu-Shan as pupils. Reconstituted as the Chun Meng (Spring Bud) Painting Institute in the 1940s, it had remained active, being since Japanese Colonial rule an important force for setting artistic trends in Chiayi that was centered around Lin Yu-Shan.

  

Following the war, Lin Yu-Shan moved to northern Taiwan in the 1950s to work as a teacher and the Chun Meng (Spring Bud) Painting Institute, originally based in Chiayi, also gradually relocated to the north but maintained its dynamism. Besides teaching, Lin Yu-Shan frequently held observational seminars in pursuit of self-improvement with other members of the institute who resided in northern Taiwan, including Lu Yun-Sheng, Li Chiu-He, Huang Ou-Po and others.

2.The Sendan Group
In February 1930, the other Japanese painting society, the Sendan Group, formally came into being under the leadership of Gobara Koto and Kinoshita Seigai, who were selection committee members of the Japanese Painting Division of Taiten. Many of its founding members were drawn from Taiwanese and Japanese painters active in the officially sanctioned exhibitions, including Lin Yu-Shan, Chen Chin, Kuo Hsueh-Hu, Pan Chun-Yuan, Lin Tung-Ling as well as Miyata Yataro, Nasu Masaki, Murakami Hideo (Wura) and others. It was said that the group derived its name from the paired-leaves of the sandalwood (neem), representing its Taiwanese and Japanese members exchanging ideas and mutually rendering assistance. Other gifted painters like Lu Tieh-Chou, Chen Jing-Hui and Nomura Sengetsu were later inducted on the recommendation of and a vote among existing members. Active in northern Taiwan and holding spring exhibitions in Taipei annually until 1936 when its chief organizer Gobara Koto returned to Japan, the Sendan Group grew dormant and finally dissolved in 1940.

In organizing exhibitions, painters also gained ample practical experiences. Kuo Hsueh-Hu once recalled that as a full-time painter based in Taipei and in close contact with Gobara Koto, he had to single-handedly manage matters large and small for the Sendan Group’s art exhibitions - from printing posters to contacting members and newspapers to setting the scene for the exhibitions and the arrangement of works on display. These hands-on experiences at the Sendan Group came in handy for him when he later began managing businesses as varied as individual exhibitions, Group Exhibitions and the Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition - all the while expanding his social network and getting more opportunities for the sale of paintings through his experiences with receiving officials and local gentry who visited exhibitions.