his style of drawing, though not his colour, that some have
thought they could recognise in him a new phase of Harunobu
under another name. This man is 湖龍齋Koriusai, whose real name
was Isoda Shobei, a samurai of the Tsuchiya family, who also
called himself Masakatsu Haruhiro, or the hermit of Yagenbori;
he lived in Yedo and was very probably a pupil of Harunobu.[1]
Their similarity lies chiefly in their drawing, but as the colouring
of the two men is absolutely different, the idea, alleged to be
that of the Japanese themselves, that there were two Koriusais,
the one being simply identical with a certain phase of Harunobu's
development, is probably a mistaken one. Koriusai was at work
through the whole of the seventies, but about 1780 turned to
painting, which he probably abandoned in 1782. He is especially
remarkable for his deep and most original colouring, in which
predominate a dark orange red, a deep, somewhat mottled blue,
and also a black admirably applied in broad masses. This
colouring lends a dignified and serious aspect to his presentations,
which, like Harunobu's, are especially occupied with
delineations of women. His genre pictures, agreeable but rather
lifeless, are very numerous; but his activity lay chiefly in
kakemono-ye, on which he introduced first two, then three, and at
length several figures; indeed, his output in this line is more
considerable than that of all other artists combined, and in point
of finish and fulness of composition may be regarded as the
highest achievement in this species of print. In this style he produced
eight views of Lake Omi, typified by figures; a youth of
rank with a falcon on his wrist, and Fuji in the background, and
many others. According to the Tokio Catalogue (p. 65) almost
two-thirds of all kakemono-ye are from his hand. During the
time of his activity a further change in coiffure begins to take
place; from about 1772 the middle coil projects in its full breadth,
