Japan: 'Soga no Juro with his Mistress Oiso no Tora and the Mistress of his...

Kubo Shunman (1757-1820) was a Japanese artist and writer. Shunman was born with the given name Kubo / Kubota Yasubei and was orphaned at a young age. He studied under the painter Katori Nahiko and the ukiyo-e artist Kitao Shigemasa, and took the art name Shunman upon finishing his studies. Other names he used were Shosado and Sashodo, hinting at his left-handed nature. His earliest works date back to 1774, and he would go on to produce ukiyo-e prints, book illustrations, paintings, illustrated novels and poetry. He became the most prolific artist in the Kitao school, with more than 70 paintings to his name surviving. Shunman was a member of various poets' clubs as well, notably the Rokujuen and Bakuro-ren clubs, the latter of which he became head. He eventually stopped designing commercial prints in 1790 to focus primarily on commissioned prints and his poetry.