Aōdō Denzen
亜欧堂 田善
Portrait of Aōdō by Endō Denichi [ja]
Born	Zenkichi Nagata (永田 善吉, Nagata Zenkichi) c. 1748 Sukagawa, Mutsu Province, Japan
Died	June 25, 1822(1822-06-25) (aged 73–74)
Other names	Aeudoo Denzento[1]
Occupation(s)	Painter, copperplate engraver
Relatives	Eiji Tsuburaya (descendant)

Aōdō Denzen (亜欧堂 田善, c. 1748 – June 25, 1822) was a Japanese painter and copperplate engraver. A leading figure in Japanese painting during the late Edo period, he is credited with introducing Western painting to Japan.

Aōdō was born Zenkichi Nagata (永田 善吉, Nagata Zenkichi) in 1748 in Sukagawa, Mutsu Province (now Fukushima Prefecture), Japan.^[2] He was the second son of Sōshirō Nagata, a wealthy farm implement dealer.^[3] Upon the death of his father, he helped his older brother, Jokichi, who was a dyer, for a long time. Jokichi had a penchant for painting, and while working in the family business, Zenkichi learned painting from him.

In his painting career, Aōdō employed Western-style painting techniques such as perspective and shading to achieve Western-style copperplate engraving.^[2] Adding Edo customs to Shiba Kokan's Western-style landscape paintings, he discovered new landscapes and perfected Western-style landscape copperplate engravings.^[2]

Sadaki Ota's Aōdō Denzen Collection, owned by the Sukagawa museum, was declared an important culturally significant in 1986.^[2] In 2001, Eiji Tsuburaya biographers cited Aōdō as an ancestor of Tsuburaya, claiming Tsuburaya inherited Aōdō's dexterity.^[4][5]

• Matsuda, Takehisa, ed. (August 10, 2001). 円谷英二特撮世界 [Eiji Tsuburaya's World of Tokusatsu] (in Japanese). Keibunsha. ISBN 4-7669-3848-8.
• 江戸時代人物控１０００ [Edo period person's copy 1000] (in Japanese). Shogakukan. 2007. ISBN 978-4-09-626607-6.
• Takeuchi, Hiroshi; Yamamoto, Shingo, eds. (2001). 円谷英二の映像世界 [Eiji Tsuburaya's Visual World] (in Japanese) (2nd ed.). Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha. ISBN 4-40839474-2.
• Ueda, Masaaki; Tsuda, Hideo; Nagahara, Keiji; Fujii, Matsuichi; Fujiwara, Akira (2009). コンサイス日本人名辞典 [Concise Japanese Dictionary] (in Japanese) (5th ed.). Sanseidō. ISBN 978-4385158013.

• Aōdō Denzen at Sukagawa City