Biography

Ukiyo-e artist. Born to a family of hatamoto (direct retainer of a shogun). Eishi himself served the tenth shogun, Ieharu Tokugawa, but retired in 1789. He studied under Eisen-in Michinobu Kano, and was strongly influenced by ukiyo-e artist Kiyonaga Torii. Early in his career, he depicted bijin-ga (beauty prints) in Kiyonaga’s style. He then transferred his family estate to his son and devoted his time to creative activity (1789-1801), during which time he created unique beauty prints of slender and elegant women. This style, referred to as “jyuni-toshin” (small head and well proportioned), also gave influence to Utamaro Kitagawa, a popular ukiyo-e artist of the same period. In addition, he is also said to be the originator of “benigirai,” a style that avoided the use of bright vermillion, and printed works in sober color tones, such as purple, deep green and gray. Around 1798, he stopped creating nishiki-e (multicolored prints), and thereafter only created nikuhitsu-ga painting using a brush and colored ink.