Kiōden's first work (1782) was an imitation, more by way of joke than anything else, of some ephemeral publications describing the manners of the brothel-quarter of Yedo. It was successful to a degree which surprised no one more than the author. His next work was equally well received. Fortunately for his fame, his career as a purveyor of pornography was put a stop to by the police authorities. Kiōden, with many others, was prosecuted under the edict promulgated in 1791 for the suppression of such publications, and was condemned to fifty days' handcuffs (in his own house). The work which brought down on him this punishment he had had the audacity to describe on the cover as an "Edifying Story-book." He wrote no more books of this kind. In one of his later prefaces he protests strenuously that his works, although fiction, would be found to inculcate the highest morality. It is quite true that they are free from coarseness or licentiousness, although their moral tendency leaves something to be desired, at least from the European point of view. Kiōden lost nothing by his reformation. The bookshops were crowded by eager purchasers of his novels. The very horse-boys and cow-herds knew his name, and his house was besieged by rival publishers clamouring for manuscript. Kiōden took advantage of his popularity to insist on definite payment for his compositions. His predecessors, we are told, received nothing for their works but an occasional invitation to supper in some place of public resort, or presents of trifling value when their books sold well.
The first work for which Kiōden bargained for payment was an early production entitled Shōgi Kinuburui, a share-bon, for which he received the munificent sum of one rio.
