Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) was a famous and revolutionary Japanese painter and lacquerer of the late Edo period and early Meiji era. It has been said that much of Zeshin's work strongly represents the aesthetic concept of iki , which might be translated as "chic". One year before his death in 1891, Zeshin was granted the immense honor of membership in the newly-created Imperial Art Committee. The honor of Imperial Commissioned Artists was only granted to 53 artists between 1890 and 1944.

Okame is the Goddess of Mirth, a very popular image in Japanese culture. Okame is also known as Uzume and is a primitive Shinto goddess whose full name is Ame no Uzume no Mikoto, or goddess of mirth. She is commonly represented in Japanese art, usually in a humorous vein. Her artistic presentation has a round face with plump, puffed out cheeks, an always-smiling countenance and small eyes with shaven eyebrows. She has a protruding forehead covered on the top and the the sides with streaming black hair brought over the temple in two wide flat bands, then falling straight down her back.