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Toyokuni III (AKA Kunisada, 1786 - 1864)

Bando Kamezo as Hinotama-kozo Oni Keisuke

Medium: Woodblock Print
Date: 1862
Size (H x W): 14 x 9.5 (inches)
Publisher: Iseya
Signature: Kio Toyokuni ga
Condition: Very good color, impression and state, light album backing

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Description

Knife gleaming overheard, Hinotama-kozo Oni Keisuke's skin blooms with red and white oni-azami, or thistle. Through the figures' pivoted stance, Toyokuni III offers the viewer an unobstructed view of the field of irezumi flowers on Keisuke's back. Growing where other plants cannot and nestled within thorny bristles, this flower is associated with toughness and defiance. Depicted in Toyokuni III's modern reimagining of the classic Suikoden, the thistle is an apt adornment for the antiauthority heroes of Edo. 

About the artist

View works signed Kunisada

Toyokuni III, also known as Kunisada, was born in the Honjo district of Edo as Kunisada Tsunoda. Kunisada’s family owned a small hereditary ferryboat service. Though his father, an amateur poet, died when Kunisada was a child, the family business provided some financial security. During his childhood, he showed considerable promise in painting and drawing. Due to strong familial ties with literary and theatrical circles, he spent time studying actor portraits.


At age 14, he was admitted to study under Toyokuni, head of the Utagawa school. Kunisada’s ukiyo-e woodblock prints embody the characteristics of the Utagawa school, focusing on traditional subjects such as kabuki, bijin (beautiful women), shunga (erotic prints), and historical prints. Kunisada's first known woodblock print dates to 1807, his first illustrated book to 1808. His career took off from the beginning. Many of his works became overnight successes and he was considered the “star attraction” of the Utagawa school. He signed his works “Kunisada,” sometimes with the studio names of Gototei and Kochoro affixed. In 1844, he adopted the name of his teacher and became Toyokuni III. Kunisada passed away in 1864 in the same neighborhood that he was born. He was 70 years old. Kunisada was a highly popular, and the most active, Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the 19th century. In his time, his reputation surpassed those of his contemporaries Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.