1833 – 6 February 1904, also known as or , was a Japanese artist of the Utagawa school.[Lane, Richard. (1978). Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print, p. 355.]
Life and career
Born the son of teahouse proprietor Asakusa Tamichi in 1833, Yoshiiku became a student of
ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi toward the end of the 1840s. His earliest known work dates to 1852 when he provided the backgrounds to some actor prints by his master.
Yoshiiku's earliest works were portraits of actors (yakusha-e), beauties (bijin-ga), and warriors (musha-e). He later followed Kuniyoshi into making satirical and humorous pieces, and became the leading name in the field after Kuniyoshi's death in 1861. He illustrated the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun ("Tokyo Daily News") from 1874 to 1876, and then co-founded the Tokyo E-iri Shinbun ("Tokyo Illustrated News"). The latter folded in 1889, and Yoshiiku returned to making prints. He struggled during his last years, and his last known print appeared in 1903. His three known students, Ikumura, Ikuei, and Ikumasa, failed to achieve recognition.
Yoshiiku had ten children with his second wife, only one of whom survived childhood. Yoshiiku died at age 71 in a temporary residence on 6 February 1904 in Honjo. He was buried at Anseiji temple in Asakusa and given the posthumous Buddhist name Juzen'in Hōkinikkaku Koji.
Prints
Yoshiiku's works include the print
Kokkei Wanisshi-ki (滑稽倭日史記, "Comical Record of Japanese History"), which employs the traditional theme of
Hyakki Yagyō on contemporary Japanese military actions in
China. He cooperated with Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in the production of the
muzan-e ("cruel pictures") series
Eimei nijūhasshūku ("Twenty-eight famous murders with verse").
[Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2012). 28 Famous Murders. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B00AGHJVOS]
Gallery
File:SinoJapaneseWarButterflyand PrayingMantis UtagawaYoshiiku 1895.jpg|Sino-Japanese War, Butterfly and Praying Mantis, 1895
File:Yoshiiku Ameonna.jpg|A female rain spirit ( Hyakumonogatari Ameonna), 1890
File:Brooklyn Museum - Portraits as True Likeness in the Moonlight (Makoto no Tsukihana no Sugata-e) - Utagawa Yoshiiku.jpg| Portraits as True Likeness in the Moonlight ( Makoto no Tsukihana no Sugata-e), c. 1845–1865. Woodblock print,
File:Utagawa Yoshiiku Specter.JPG| Specter frightening a young woman, 1890
File:De zeven geluksgoden bij het kweken van zijderupsen-Rijksmuseum RP-P-1902-A-22835.jpeg|The Seven Gods of Luck in Silkworm Breeding, 1875
File:Mitate Yotaka Kingyo.jpg|1863
File:NDL-DC 9369963-040 Utagawa Yoshiiku crd.jpg
File:NDL-DC 9369963-107 Utagawa Yoshiiku crd.jpg
File:WUL-bunko30 b0285 今様擬源氏 30.pdf|Imayo Nazorae Genji no. 30 (Contemporary Allusion to the Tale of Genji) 1864
See also
-
Schools of ukiyo-e artists
-
List of ukiyo-e terms
Works cited
-
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
External links
