Examples of the signature of Ryûkôsai Jokei

Ryūkōsai Jokei ( ja, 流光斎如圭) was a painter, illustrator, and designer of

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

-style

Japanese woodblock prints Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, who was active from about 1777 to 1809. He was a student of

Shitomi Kangetsu ''Shitomi'' (蔀), also called hajitomi (半蔀) are square-lattice shutters or doors found on older-style Japanese buildings. They are characteristic of the Shinden style, and the Heian Period (794-1185). They were used in aristocrats' palaces, a ...

(1747–1797), who in turn was the son and pupil of

Tsukioka Settei Tsukioka Settei (, 1710 – 22 January 1787) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. Settei was born in Ōmi Province and studied painting in Osaka in the style of the Kanō school under . He was strongly influenced by the work of the ukiyo-e artist Nis ...

(1710–1786). Ryūkōsai is considered to be either the founderNewland, 2005, p. 482 or one of the foundersRoberts, 1976, p. 134 of the

Osaka school Kamigata (上方) was the colloquial term for a region today called Kansai (''kan'', barrier; ''sai'', west) in Japan. This large area encompasses the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. The term is used particularly when discussing elements of E ...

. He is best known for his portraits of actors. His prints are mostly in the

hosoban Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...

format. Pupils of Ryūkōsai include Shōkōsai Hanbei and

Urakusai Nagahide Urakusai Nagahide (Japanese: 有楽斎　長秀), was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints who was active from about 1804 to about 1848. He is also known as Yūrakusai Nagahide (有楽斎　長秀), Nakamura Nagahide (中邑　� ...

Gallery

File:Woodblock print by Ryûkôsai Jokei of kabuki actor Yoshizawa Iroha in the role of Ariwara no Narihira.jpg,

Woodblock print Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...

by Ryūkōsai Jokei of

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

actor Yoshizawa Iroha in the role of

Ariwara no Narihira was a Japanese courtier and ''waka'' poet of the early Heian period. He was named one of both the Six Poetic Geniuses and the Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses, and one of his poems was included in the ''Ogura Hyakunin Isshu'' collection. He is a ...

Notes

References

* Keyes, Roger S. & Keiko Mizushima, ''The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints'', Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973, 238. * Lane, Richard. (1978). ''Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
OCLC 5246796
* Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). ''Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints.'' Amsterdam: Hotei.
OCLC 61666175
* Roberts, Laurance P. (1976). ''A Dictionary of Japanese Artists.'' New York: Weatherhill.
OCLC 2005932
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryukosai, Jokei Ukiyo-e artists