Printmaker. Born in Ishikawa Prefecture. He signed as Koson (for the publisher Daikokuya Matsuki Heikichi), Shoson (for Watanabe Shozaburo) and Hoson (for Sakai Kokodo and Kawaguchi Shokai). He studied painting under Suzuki Kason, a specialist in birds and flowers. He began with painted bird-and-flower work, but at Fenollosa’s urging he turned to woodblock prints of birds and flowers for export. His lyrical, delicately drawn birds and flowers, and his animal pictures with their humorous expressions, were highly regarded in the Europe of his day.