Artist –  SHIBA Kokan (司馬江漢) (1747 – 1818), was an Edo period painter and ukiyo-e artist. He also was known as a Rangaku scholar ('Western learning') publishing in the field of Geography and astronomy, and promoting the theory of heliocentricity.

SHIBA Kokan studied classical painting in the Kano school, and sketching techniques of the Nanbin School introduced from China (Qing), and Western paintings, during his extended stays in the the only open Dutch dominated Western merchants port on Dejima peninsula in Nagasaki. He was also the first Japanese artist using copperplate engraving (etching).

Personal life - SHIBA Kokan was born as Andō Kichirō (安藤吉次郎) in the 4th year of Enkyo (1747) in a townhouse in Edo. Kokan lived for a long time at Shiba Shinsenza (currently 2-chome, Higashi- Shimbashi , Minato-ku , Tokyo). The family name 'SHIBA' originates from SHIBA Shinsenza (芝 新銭座) in a different reading.

The young Ando Kichiro was born with strong self-esteem and curiosity. He was very interested in painting, and thought that he would make a name for himself with his art and leave a name for future generations. In 1761, at the age of 15 after the death of his father, he studied under Kano Yoshinobu (Kanō BiShin, 狩野 美信), aka Doharu (洞春) of the Surugadai Kano school (Surugadai Karino-ha, 駿河台 狩野 派). Kano Yoshinobu was a well known and estabished screen and table painter.

SHIBA Kokan left the Kano school at the age of 21. He became a disciple of the ukiyo-e artist SUZUKI Harunobu (鈴木 春信,1724-1770), using HARUSHIGE Suzuki.(鈴木春信) as his "go". After SUZUKI Harunobu's death in 1770, SHIBA Kōkan sometimes used Harunobu's signature on a number of his own prints, which were said to be accepted as true works by Harunobu at the time.

Around the age of 25 in the middle of Meiwa, SHIBA Kokan became familiar with Western painting methods, probably due to introduction from the former ronin, multimodal bonvivant, artist, writer, inventor, pharmacist, and natural scientist  HIRAGA Gennai (平賀 源内, 1729 – 1780) in Nagasaki. Here he also absorbed the painting methods of the Nanpin school (南蘋派 Nanpin-ha) introduced by Chinese Painter SHEN Quan (沈铨, aka  'Nanpin', '南蘋'). SHEN Quan was for about two years teaching in the open port region of Nagasaki, and was a representative of the Chinese 'Southern School' (南宗画) mostly promoting "Flower and Bird Painting" contrasting the 'Northern School' of the 'Northern Style' Chinese "Literati Painting". Shen Quan was teaching SO Shiseki (宋 紫石, 1712 – 1786) who, in addition to his well-known 'Nanpin Style' pictures, was also a pioneer of multicolor printing.
SO Shiseki taught SHIBA Kokan Nanpin technique, thus also became a Han painter (Qing style Chinese art). At that time this was supposed to be some kind of life style realistic painting. SHIBA Kokan's style of Chinese painting was at that time at the forefront of fashion.

From HIRAGA Gennai, he gained knowledge of Western natural sciences, and by the time he was 27, he had studied under him. SHIBA participated in the exploration of the mines in Gennai region, where Gennai was some kind of inspector. Shiba Kokan learned and profited alot about natural sciences from HIRAGA Gennai.

By the age of 33, he had studied Western-style painting with ODANO Naotake (小田野直武) the mid Edo painter and retainer of the Akita clan who in collaboration with HIRANO Gennai opend a school in Nagasaki. SHIBA Kokan became acquainted with MOENO Ryotaku (前野良沢), doctor and Dutch scholar, later a vassal of the Edo Shogunate, and the translator of 'Kaitai Shinsho', the first complete anatonomy book in Japan. Through MOENO he came into contact with other Dutch scholars and translators such as OTSUKI Gentaku ( 大槻 玄澤). At the age of 37. and with the cooperation of OTSUKI, he was able to read Dutch documents and succeeded in producing copperplate engravings.In the following year (1783), he produced six copperplate prints of his own.

In Nagasaki, SHIBA Kokan saw a large number of imported oil paintings for the first time in his life. His next challenge was the production of oil paintings by himself. SHIBA Kokan used silk cloth instead of canvas. The the paint was made by mixing locally availabel perilla oil (egoma abura, エゴマ油), which was used as edible oil and for making waterproof umbrellas at that time. This technique was originally also developed as a coloring method for lacquerware, but SHIBA Kokan diverted it to oil paintings.

Kokan had a wide circle of friends, but on the other hand, he often boasted about himself, and was sometimes criticized by other Rangaku scholars as "the secret agent of the copper shop'' as an allusion of his copperplate engravings.

In his later years, his socializing became troublesome. From 1808 onwards, he changed his birthdate, adding nine years, because the number '9' represents some kind of 'lucky number' in popular Chinese philosophical literature of the 'Zhuangzi' ( 庄子). In 1813, he was sending his death notice to his acquaintances, and when he encountered an acquaintance on the streets, he ran away without answering.

Aliases - His birthname was Andō Kichirō (安藤吉次郎), in his youth he also used Andō Katsusaburō (安藤 勝三郎) and later on Andō Shun (安藤 峻), Kimitake (君嶽), Kimioka (君岡), Momogen (桃言), Mugondojin (無言道人), and Seiyodojin (西洋道人). As writer and essayist he used his regular family name and Shumparō (春波楼) as a pen name. He used HARUSHIGE Suzuki (鈴木春信) during the lifetime of Haronobu Suzuki.

 
Disciples - none known