Yoshitoyo (1830 - 1866 )
Yoshitoyo was an active ukiyo-e printmaker during the late Edo period and the student of both Kunisada and Kuniyoshi. While Yoshitoyo lived and worked primarily in Edo, he briefly traveled in Osaka and became a member of the kamigate-e group, or Osaka school. He is known for his warrior prints and kite designs. He may be the same artist as Uehara Yoshitoyo.
Japanese Woodblock Prints (1800 - 1868)
By the 19th century, Japanese woodblock prints achieved extraordinary popularity. While the shogunate issued a battery of censorship reforms throughout the 1800s, artists ignored and evaded restrictions with images of indulgent beauties and vibrant kabuki actors. As constraints tightened in the 1840s, bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) became earthier in prints by Eizan and Eisen, while kabuki actors persevered in the work of Kunisada (aka Toyokuni III). During this period, ukiyo-e artists also added landscapes, warriors, ghosts and scenes of everyday life to their oeuvre. Artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige indulged a national wanderlust through Meisho-e or “famous place pictures,” while Kuniyoshi championed musha-e, a genre of warrior and legendary pictures.