About the artist
Morita Kakō (active c. 1904–1930) was a Japanese artist working in both the nihonga painting tradition and the field of woodblock print design. Though little is known about his personal life, his body of work reflects the dynamic artistic environment of early 20th-century Japan, spanning wartime imagery and refined nature studies. Kakō first emerged as a designer of sensō-e (war prints) during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), contributing to a genre that documented contemporary military events for a broad public audience. By the 1910s, his focus shifted toward kachō-e (bird-and-flower prints), where he demonstrated a more lyrical and observational approach, capturing seasonal flora and fauna with delicacy and precision.