Kotondo Torii was born as Akira Saito in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo. He was adopted as the son of Kiyotada Torii, the seventh Torii master and head of the school from 1929 until 1951. Kotondo began his career in 1914 in yamato-e (Japanese court painting) under the tutelage of Tomone Kobori, before joining Shinsui Ito in the workshop of Kiyokata Kaburaki in 1918. Early in his career, Kotondo produced posters and other kabuki focused illustrations for Entertainment Illustrated magazine. Kotondo completed the majority of his woodblock prints between 1927 and 1933, working with several publishers including Sakai/Kawaguchi (Kyoto, 1920s) and Ikeda (Tokyo, 1930s). After his father’s death in 1941, Kotondo assumed the name Torii VIII (Kiyotada V). From 1966 to 1972, he lectured at Nihon University. Unlike his kabuki-focused Torii predecessors, Kotondo turned to the bijin-ga genre. In both his paintings and his woodblock prints, he portrayed beauties with a delicacy and intimacy. Over course of his career, he produced twenty-two bijin-ga designs. Six of these designs were issued in multiple color variations.