The problem of the identity of the artist or artists called Choki and Shiko, cannot be solved in a convincing manner, because of a lack of contemporary data, as is the case with many other problems concerning  > ukiyo-e  artists.

We know there is an artist called  > Choki  (active 1770s-1800s), a pupil of Toriyama Sekien, who designed some of the most artistically pleasing prints in ukiyo-e, the best known being bust portraits of courtesans, often on a mica ground, reminiscent of Utamaro’s portraits but with a slight otherworldliness that sets them apart. Before designing these prints Choki worked as a book illustrator in the 1770s and 1780s using the name Shiko. The identity of these two names is confirmed by contemporary Japanese sources.

The Choki problem arises from the fact that we know prints from the 1790s and 1800s which are once again signed Shiko. Some authors on Japanese prints suggest that an artist did not revert to a previous go (artist’s name), while others think this might well be possible. At the moment there seems to be no absolutely convincing argument for either theory. We still know very little about the usages of artists’ names and especially about the transference of a well-known name from a master to his pupil. An example of the problems this can raise was given in the previous article on Utamaro I in connection with his pupil Utamaro II.

The deterioration in style that several authors see in the ‘second’ Shiko may be due to the general uncertainty that seems to have overcome print designers at the beginning of the new century and which makes the drawing of a line between Utamaro I and Utamaro II such a problem. The later prints by Choki approach those by Shiko very closely and as long as there is no documentary evidence to support the division into two seperate artists it seems best to place the Choki-Shiko prints under one heading as has been done up to now.

This must be one (see picture below!) of the best-known and one of the most frequently reproduced ukiyo-e prints and for many it epitomizes a whole school of print design. A young woman is standing beside a water well on which stands a pot with fukujuso (Adonis mutabilis). She is dressed in a black, green and yellow striped kimono with a underrobe and a red and white tie-dye underrobe. A striped overcoat with a black collar hangs loosely around her shoulders. Behind her some green plants, a bamboo fence and the wide expanse of the sea. On the horizon a large red sun just rising. The fukujuso plant, the rising sun and the water basin in this print refer to the New Year.