Shoda Kôhô (1871-1946)

Shoda Kôhô was a print designer, nihonga painter, and kyoka poet active during the turn of the 20th century. Working as an illustrator for the Chuo Newspaper, Koho began his artistic career in history painting and bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women). He was a student of Gekko Ogata and gained acclaim for his work through the state-sponsored exhibitions of the late 1890s and early 1900s. In the early decades of the 20th century Koho designed prints for the publisher Hasegawa (Hasegawa-Ninomiya). Later, he turned away from visual arts to focus on his kyoka poetry.