1844-1895

Kono wass one of the leading practitioners of the ukiyo-e school devoted to pictures of birds and flowers (kacho-ga) in the Meiji period.

He was born and lived in Kyoto, the old Imperial capital of Japan, and was originally named Yasuda Bairei. Unlike many other ukiyo-e artists, he was trained as a classical Japanese painter, studying with a number of masters of various classical painting styles, and apparently did woodblock prints as more of a sideline.

As a child Bairei studied with the Maruyama-school painter Nakajima Raisho, and in his late twenties with the Shijo-school painter Shiokawa Bunrin. He also studied with Nanga-school painters.

A leader in Kyoto art circles, he was devoted to teaching, and was instrumental in the founding of the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting. After the school was underway, he opened a studio and took in students, and was important as a teacher of some gifted pupils.