Kōno Bairei (幸野 楳嶺, March 3, 1844 – February 20, 1895) was a Japanese painter, book illustrator, and art teacher.

[2] He was a member of the broad Maruyama-Shijo school and was a master of kacho-e painting (depictions of birds and flowers) in the Meiji period of Japan.

[3] In 1852, he went to study with the Maruyama-school painter, Nakajima Raisho (1796–1871).

After Raisho's death, Bairei studied with the Shijo-school master Shiokawa Bunrin (1808–77).

He opened an art school in 1880 and his students included Takeuchi Seihō, Kawai Gyokudō, and Uemura Shōen.