Utagawa Kunisada II (, 1823 – 20 July 1880) was a Japanese ''

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 of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

'' print designer, one of three to take the name "Utagawa Kunisada". He headed the

Utagawa school The Utagawa school () was one of the main schools of ukiyo-e, founded by Utagawa Toyoharu. It was the largest ukiyo-e school of its period. The main styles were bijin-ga (beautiful women) and uki-e (perspective picture). His pupil, Toyokuni I, too ...

Life and career

Little is known of Kunisada II's early life. A pupil of Utagawa Kunisada I, he signed much of his early work "Kunimasa III". His earliest known prints date to 1844. Kunisada I adopted him in 1846 after he married the master's daughter Osuzu. He took the name Kunisada II , about the time he inherited the house of Kunisada I. He changed his name once more following his master's death, to Toyokuni III. However, since there were three artists called Toyokuni before him, Kunisada II is now often known as Toyokuni IV. Kunisada II worked in the style of his master, but never achieved the same level of success. His prints include over 40 series, mostly of actors (''

yakusha-e ''Yakusha-e'' (役者絵), often referred to as "actor prints" in English, are Japanese woodblock prints or, rarely, paintings, of kabuki actors, particularly those done in the '' ukiyo-e'' style popular through the Edo period (1603–1867) an ...

''), as well portraits of beauties, illustrations of scenes from literature, erotica, and other subjects. He illustrated nearly 200 books. One of his most celebrated actor series, “The Tale of the Eight Dog Heroes” (''Hakkendun inu no sōshi no uchi''), dating from 1852, is drawn from

Kyokutei Bakin (), a.k.a. (, 4 July 1767 – 1 December 1848), was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period. Born (), he wrote under the pen name (). Later in life he took the pen name (). Modern scholarship generally refers to him as , or just as n. He is ...

’s epic novel, “The Satomi Clan and the Eight Dogs” (''

Nansō Satomi hakkenden ''Nansō Satomi Hakkenden'' ( ja, 南総里見八犬伝, label=shinjitai; ja, 南總里見八犬傳, label=kyūjitai) is a Japanese epic novel (''yomihon'') written and published over twenty-eight years (1814–42) in the Edo period, by Kyokute ...

''), written from 1814 to 1842 and published in 106 volumes. Kunisada II's popularity waned in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

(1868–1912), and he appears to have stopped making prints after 1874. He died on 20 July 1880 and was buried at Banshōin Kōunji. His Buddhist posthumous name is Sankōin Hōkokujutei Shinji. Students of his include

Kunisada III Utagawa Kunisada III (歌川国貞) (1848–1920) was an ''ukiyo-e'' printmaker of the Utagawa school, specializing in ''yakusha-e'' (pictures of kabuki actors). He began studying under Kunisada, Utagawa Kunisada I at the age of 10, and continued ...

(1848–1920).

Signatures

Kunisada II usually signed prints either 国貞画 (Kunisada ''ga'', drawn by Kunisada) or 国貞筆 (Kunisada ''hitsu'', from the brush of Kunisada). He did not sign prints “Kunisada II”. His signature may be distinguished from that of

Kunisada I Utagawa Kunisada ( ja, 歌川国貞; 1786 – 12 January 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (, ), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. He is considered the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodbloc ...

in that the ''sada''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

is straight in the signature of

, but angular in the signature of Kunisada II (see figure). Further, Kunisada I took the name 'Toyokuni' in 1844, and never included the 'Kunisada' signature within the Toshidama cartouche, as Kunisada II often does in the 1850s and 1860s. Moreover, most prints signed 'Kunisada' and by Kunisada II are datable by censor or date seals to post-1850. Labit – L’acteur Iwai Hanshirô dans le rôle de Koaki par Utagawa Kunisada II.jpg Ashikaga Shigeuji Koga Kubo.png Courtesan and Attendant LACMA M.2004.9.4.jpg Hanachirusato LACMA M.2000.42.4.jpg Kunisada II Hakkenden Nakamura Tamasuke.jpg Kunisada II The Dragon.jpg Kunisada II Unryu 1864.jpg

Life and career

Signatures

References

Works cited

See also