Shimozawa Kihachiro was a contemporary artist, poet, and author born in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, in 1901. As a motivated young teenager, Shimozawa developed a penchant for sketching and watercolors, which he carried throughout his career. 

He took an office job for an art magazine in Tokyo while making sketches in his spare time. It was there Shimozawa met Hiratsuka Un'ichi and Ishii Hakutei, pioneering artists of the sosaku hanga movement. Although Shimozawa was largely self-taught, it is Hiratsuka that is credited with helping to develop the young artist's technique. Under both Hiratsuka and Hakutei, Shimozawa continued to work and study until he was drafted by the Imperial Army in 1921. After a brief two-year service, he resumed his artistic endeavors and joined the Yoyogi group alongside fellow artists Masao Maeda and Umetaro Azechi. The next several decades were a busy time for the young artist. Shimozawa debuted at Teiten in 1924, joined Hiratsuka's Kokugakai group in the 1930s, and was a participating member of the Nihon Sosaku Hanga Kyokai and Nihon Hanga Kyokai from 1931 to 1952. 

Prior to these memberships, Shimozawa experimented with tempera painting until 1936, when he quit the medium in favor of hanga. Inspired by the traditional ukiyo-e of Hiroshige and Kiyochika, Shimozawa was determined to continue the tradition as a creative art form in which the artist (rather than the publisher) had complete autonomy. He later became a founding member of Banga-in and served as a contributor to Han, Han Geijutsu, and Kitsutsuki Hanga-shu magazines. At the apex of his career, Shimozawa was featured in the 1957 Tokyo Biennale, alongside other prominent contemporary artists. He is most credited for his tempera paintings, landscapes, large figures, and door and window motifs.