115 - Koson: Crow on a Snowy Bough

Ohara Koson: Crow on a Snowy Bough

This is a kachô-e by Ohara Koson (1877-1945), who was a brilliant artist when it comes to kachô-e within the shin hanga movement.

Kachô-e is a subgenre of ukiyo-e, shin hanga and Japanese art in general. Originally, its motives were flowers and birds, but more generally, it comprises flora and fauna. 

Japanese names are written with the family name first. Artists are mostly signing with their given name or a pseudonym. Ohara Koson signed his works "Koson", later "Shōson", and sometimes "Hoson".

This print, Crow on a Snowy Bough, was made some time between 1900 and 1910.

92 – Shunsen: Kingfisher on Bamboo

Shunsen: Kingfisher on Bamboo

 

Here we have a kachô-e, Kingfisher on Bamboo. It is also an aizuri-e, that is to say that the only colour is blue.

Katsukawa Shunsen (1762 - about 1830) also called himself Shunkō II when he succeeded Shunkō I as the head of the Katsukawa school.

85 - Shigenobu: Kachô-e

Yanagawa Shigenobu: Kachô-e, Title unknown

This beautiful kachô-e is created by Yanagawa Shigenobu (1787-1832), who was one of Hokusai's students, later adopted as his son.

72 - Hiroshige: Scorpionfish, Isaki, and Ginger

Hiroshige: Scorpionfish, Isaki, and Ginger

Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, but he also made exquisite kachô-e. Mainly flowers and birds, but also fish. Here we have Scorpionfish, Isaki, and Ginger, from an untitled series known as Large Fish. It can be dated to 1832-1835.

67 - Sekkyô: White Falcon in a Pine Tree

Sekkyô: White Falcon in a Pine Tree

This is White Falcon in a Pine Tree, by Sawa Sekkyô, who was active in the late 18th and early 19th century. His studies of birds are often, as here, made as aizuri-e, with only blue colour.

31 - Sûgakudô: Tit and Maple Leaves

Nakayama Sûgakudô: Tit and Maple Leaves

I don't know much about Nakayama Sûgakudô (active 1850–1860), but he made kachô-e, prints of birds and flowers. This is a Manchurian Great Tit, Maple Leaves, and Late Blooming Cherry. It is number 36 in the series Forty-eight Hawks Drawn from Life, [in Japanese: Ikiutsushi shijûhachi taka], from the 6th month of 1859.

Kachô-e was a sub-genre of ukiyo-e from the very beginning. Already then, flowers and birds had been popular motives in East Asian art for centuries.

26 - Eisen: Summer

Eisen: Summer

This is a kachô-e by Keisai Eisen (1790-1848). It is called "Summer" and is from a series named "The Four Seasons", which Eisen created in 1820.

The print is mainly blue. That makes it an "aizuri-e". The little added orange doesn't change that. The term denotes prints being entirely in blue or where blue is dominating.
 

19 - Utamaro: Scops Owl and Bullfinches

Utamaro: Scops Owl and Bullfinches

Momo chidori kyôka awase [One Hundred Birds in a Competition of Humorous Poetry] from about 1790, sometimes considered the epitome of kachô-e, is an album by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806). In my opinion, there are more beautiful examples of kachô-e, but Utamaro's studies of birds are exquisite. 

The album was published by Tsutaya Juzaburo (1748-1797) as one of his anthologies of kyōka, a form of comic verse. His friend Utamaro illustrated several of those anthologies. Momo chidori kyôka awase is the most famous result of their co-operation.

The picture I have chosen from the album is Scops Owl (Mimizuku) and Bullfinches (Uso).

Kachô-e (also called kachô-ga) is a sub-genre of ukiyo-e. Strictly, it is defined as “studies of flowers and birds”, but while many artists limited themselves to flowers and birds, others went beyond that to other plants and animals. In a broader sense we can say that kachô-e is about studies of plants and animals in general.