Nakamura Tokizō V as Kagaribi, wife of Takatsuna, in "Moritsuna Jinya"

Born into a family of painters, Kôkei spent brief years as an office worker before he began making woodblock prints of kabuki actors in 1978. He taught himself all the necessary printmaking skills with the motto of 'self-learning, self-creating, self-executing'. The extent of his technical skill is evident in his use of ultra-sheer 'ganpi paper', which retains the intensity of the ink but is difficult to work with. All Kôkei's prints depict kabuki actors and he is the official artist of a kabuki theatre. Most of his prints employ the traditional format - 'okubi-e' or 'large head picture'- in which the tension and emotion of the figure are captured by exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures.

Art Gallery Handbook, 1999. pg. 285.