Biography

Ukiyo-e artist. Born in Echigo Province (present-day Niigata Prefecture). Was a disciple of Kuniyoshi Utagawa, then Kunisada Utagawa (Toyokuni III), and then Kunichika Toyohara. Upon the Meiji Restoration (1868), he joined the former Shogunate army and took part in such conflicts as the Battle of Hakodate. From around 1875, he resumed his creative activity. His multicolored prints, each of which was composed of a set of three sheets, adopted the theme of the Seinan War, and his court prints both received a favorable reception. He worked in a broad range of mediums, including beauty prints, actor prints, current-event illustrations, and woodblock-printed books. In particular, he gained popularity for his series of beautiful women that reflected the times, via adopting images that were not allowed to be published during the Edo era. Namely, those images were of the Ooku (women’s quarters) in Edo Castle, events held by the Shogunate government, and women dressed in Western clothing.