The Nika-kai is an art organization that has existed since the prewar period. Artists who were dissatisfied with the low evaluation of new trends and avant-garde works in the Western painting division of the Bunten Exhibition sponsored by the government proposed the establishment of the Nika-kai to provide a forum for the legitimate evaluation of new trends, but the proposal went unheeded.
The artists who gathered at that time founded the Nika-kai. Jiro Yoshihara entered the Nika Exhibition in 1934 and was selected. He continued to win special prizes for his abstract paintings, which established his reputation as an avant-garde painter, and he was highly regarded as a promising artist in the Kansai art world and became very influential. This led to his appointment as a juror for various art exhibitions in the Kansai region, as well as to exchanges with art professionals and artists in the Kansai area, which led to the establishment of Gutai.