Biography

Ukiyo-e artist. Became a disciple of Kuniyoshi Utagawa when he was seventeen or eighteen. Became known for multicolored prints that depicted the devastating sights of the 1855 Ansei Great Earthquake. Gained recognition for the chimidoro-e (bloody prints) series “Twenty-eight Famous Murders with Verse,” which reflected the social trend in the late Edo era. This series was collaboratively created by Yoshiiku and his junior disciple Yoshitoshi Tsukioka. This led the two artists to split the notoriety between them during the late Edo and the Meiji eras. In 1872, he became a founder of “Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun” (today’s Mainichi Shimbun). From 1874, he was in charge of large-sized, multicolored prints for that newspaper. In addition, he participated in the publishing of “Hiragana Eiri Shimbun” and “Kabuki Shimpo,” for which he created the front pages and other illustrations. From his socialization with light-fiction writers and dilettantes, he began to devote his time to the newspaper business. This removed him from creating multicolored prints. Instead, he produced illustrations and portraits of actors.