There are very few accurate details concerning Kokan's early life. His birthplace, *exact date of birth and information on his parents are all uncertain.

What is generally agreed upon is that he was apprenticed to Toriyama Sekien. Around 1793 Kokan began a successful partnership with the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo with whom he published several illustrated books.

It was not until 1791 that Kokan began to produce the work for which he is remembered and admired. The women of the Yoshiwara district were Kokan's new subjects, and he painted them quite unlike any other artist. Firstly he produced half-length portraits of women as a pose to the full length images that other ukiyo-e artists were printing. His women were stylised with long faces and thin bodies.

Kokan also printed books on insects and like most ukiyo-e artists he spent some time producing shunga.

Kokan is also remembered for being one of the artists who fell foul of the then ruling Tokugawa Shoguns. For printing images of a dubious nature that depicted the historical figure Toyotomi Hideyoshi with his wife and five concubines, Kokan was made to wear hand-cuffs for fifty days. It is said that this experience was the catalyst for Kokan's decline as an artist. He died two years later.