Pheasant In flight

A [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) (bird-and-flower picture) depicting a pheasant captured mid-flight, a subject that tests a designer's ability to convey velocity and the precise angle of extended wings against a static ground. The composition typically isolates the bird against a relatively spare ground, allowing the printer to lavish detail on the layered plumage of tail and wing — work demanding multiple impressions and exact registration across blocks. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradients are often deployed in skies of this type to suggest atmospheric depth without overwhelming the figure. Though Shoun is principally remembered for his [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) and his Ima Sugata series of contemporary women, he produced kacho-e throughout his Meiji-Taisho output, working in a tradition that descended from Hokusai and Hiroshige's bird-and-flower designs while adapting their pictorial sensibility to the smaller-scale, decorative formats favored by early twentieth-century publishers.