Birds & Flowers Prints (1639)
Birds and flowers (kacho-ga) form one of the three classical subject categories of East Asian painting, alongside landscapes and figures. In Japanese woodblock printmaking, the tradition produced some of the medium's most technically accomplished works, demanding exceptional carving precision for feather details and botanical accuracy. Hokusai's "Small Flowers" series and Hiroshige's bird-and-flower prints of the 1830s established kacho-ga as a major ukiyo-e genre. These works combined natural observation with poetic sensibility, often incorporating verses that amplified the seasonal or emotional associations of their subjects. The surimono tradition — privately commissioned luxury prints — particularly favored bird-and-flower subjects, producing exquisite small-format works with metallic pigments and blind embossing. Shin-hanga artists continued the tradition with renewed naturalistic ambition. Ohara Koson (also known as Shoson) became the genre's most prolific modern practitioner, creating hundreds of bird-and-flower designs that combined scientific observation with decorative elegance. His prints of egrets, crows, and songbirds in atmospheric settings became internationally popular. The genre demands particular technical skill in color gradation and fine-line carving, making kacho-ga prints a showcase for the collaborative craft of designer, carver, and printer.
Artists Known for Birds & Flowers
Lilies - ゆり
Woodblock print
Untitled, Birds and Flowers
Woodblock print
Flowers 3
Woodblock print
Waterlily Season, Shôwa period, dated 1959
Woodblock print
Dried Flowers
Woodblock print
Unknown, Love birds
Woodblock print
Peacocks
description
Woodblock print
Bar-tailed Godwits and Reeds
1926
Color woodblock print; oban
Geese in Flight
c. 1928–1930
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Swan and Reeds
1928
Color woodblock print
Two Doves
circa 1890-1910
Woodblock print
Yellow Jonquil
1919
Color woodblock print
White Geese and Reeds
1928
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodpecker B- oban
Woodblock print
Wild Keshi
1930
Woodcut print
![Woodpecker (B) [Kitsutsuki (B)] by Kaoru Kawano](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/bc4e25d8-39cc-0723-0ac3-5c17e5e5f5e9/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Woodpecker (B) [Kitsutsuki (B)]
1962
Color woodblock print
Roosters
20th century
Color woodblock print; edition 14/100
Roosters Fighting
Woodblock print
Cockatoos
1930s
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Pigeons
c. 1900–1945
Woodblock print
Chrysanthemums, Hibiya Park
Woodblock print
Bingata
1975
Color woodblock print; edition 42/128
Butterflies ( c )
Woodblock print
September; Chrysanthemums
Woodblock print
Untitled (watanabe-seitei)
1896
Woodblock print
Woodpecker
1930
Woodcut print
Geese Christmas Card
description
Woodblock print
Orchids
1916
Woodblock print
Two Cranes
二羽の鶴
c. 1925
Color woodblock print
![Title unknown [Flowers in a vase] by Sumio Kawakami](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135636.jpg)
Title unknown [Flowers in a vase]
c. 1960
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Peonies
n.d.
Color woodblock print; surimono
Mallard Ducks Swimming
泳ぐ鴨
c. 1915
Color woodblock print
TotalCount
c. 1878–1918
Woodblock print
Mallard Ducks in Coastal Scene
Woodblock print
Flowers — 華燈
Woodblock print
Chryanthemums and Black-headed Munia
Woodblock print
Dahlias
1936
Woodblock print
Butterflies at Dawn
1978
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
An Illustrated Mirror of Falconry, vol. 1, pt. 1
c. 1863–68
Woodblock printed book, ink on paper with mica
Woman Red with White Chrysanthemums, from the series The Appearance of Upper-Class Women of the Edo period (Tokugawa jidai kifujin no sugata)
Meiji period, dated October 1895
Woodblock print in "ōban" format; ink and color on paper
Nesting Sparrows
Woodblock print
Dragonflies and flowers
Woodblock print
Harvard Art Museum
Woodblock print
Land of the Bluebird No 96
1913
Woodblock print
Soaring Birds #3
Woodblock print
Moring Glories — 朝がお
Woodblock print
Camellias
Woodblock print
White Chrysanthemums
Woodblock print
CHORUI (birds) 77 102
Woodblock print
Cormorants
Woodblock print
Crickets and Flowers
Woodblock print
Pair of Japanese Grosbeaks
Woodblock print
Untitled (gesso-yoshimoto)
Woodblock print
Koho
Woodblock print
Untitled (chigusa-kotani)
Woodblock print
Fledgling
Woodblock print
Untitled (tsuchiya-rakuzan)
Woodblock print
Rakusan Tsuchiya (1886-?) Rakuzan
Woodblock print
Untitled (koho-shoda)
Woodblock print
Two Blackbirds in Forest
Woodblock print
Related Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
Birds and flowers (kacho-ga) form one of the three classical subject categories of East Asian painting, alongside landscapes and figures. In Japanese woodblock printmaking, the tradition produced some of the medium's most technically accomplished works, demanding exceptional carving precision for feather details and botanical accuracy.
Sugiura Kazutoshi, Ohara Koson, and Kimura Yoshiharu are among the artists most associated with birds & flowers in our collection. Browse the full list of artists who explored this subject above.
Hanga currently catalogues 1639 prints tagged with birds & flowers, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.