( fl Edo [now Tokyo], 1783–1821). Print designer, book illustrator and painter. Among (1) Katsukawa Shunsho’s students, only Shunko and (5) Katsukawa Shun’ei excelled Shuncho. Shuncho’s earliest extant works are the illustrations for the kibyoshi (‘yellow cover’ book; comic novel) Tsujin kokoroe chigai (‘Misunderstanding by a man about town’, 1783; Tokyo, Dai Tokyu Mem. Found.). While Shuncho produced few book illustrations, he designed many bijinga (‘pictures of beautiful women’) nishikie (‘brocade pictures’; full-colour prints). Although a member of the Katsukawa school, Shuncho emulated the style of Torii Kiyonaga (see TORII, (8)); many of Shuncho’s best bijinga bear a striking resemblance to those by Kiyonaga. Shuncho depicted Takashima Ohisa and Naniwaya Okita (both c. 1793; Chicago, IL, A. Inst.), well-known beauties of the time who appear in many of Kitagawa Utamaro’s works. Shuncho briefly competed with Kiyonaga, but never developed his own style. Shuncho gave up nishikie around 1790, when Kiyonaga became the fourth-generation head of the TORII school. Shuncho also produced yakushae (‘pictures of actors’) that show the style of Kiyonaga. Shuncho’s nikuhitsuga (‘original paintings’; polychrome paintings) are clearly influenced by his teacher, Shunsho (see JAPAN, §VI, 4(iv)(b)). Among his few book illustrations, his best known are Ehon Chiyo no Aki (‘Picture book of eternal autumn’, c. 1790; Cologne, Gerhard Pulverer priv. col.), Ehon momiji no hashi (‘Picture book of maple bridge’) and Ehon sakaegusa (‘Picture book of prosperous house’, 1790; Tokyo, N. Diet Lib.). The hanashibon (‘story-book’) Buji shui (‘Collection of quiet life’, 1798; Tokyo, N. Diet Lib.) is the last book Shuncho illustrated. Around that time Shuncho gave up ukiyoe altogether; he became a student of the poet and ukiyoe artist, KUBO SHUNMAN and wrote verse under the pseudonym Kissado Shuncho.

Part of the Katsukawa family

• Katsukawa Shuncho
  • Album, §1: East Asia
  • Japan, §IX, 3(ii)(a): Prints, Edo period & after: Production, subject-matter & social context
  • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(b): Prints, c 1760–c 1780
  • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(c): Prints, c 1780–c 1800
  • Katsukawa
  • Katsukawa: (1) Katsukawa Shunsho