Toyohara Kunichika

Toyohara Kunichika
Kunichika in 1897
Born	Ōshima Yasohachi (1835-06-30)30 June 1835 Edo, Japan
Died	1 July 1900(1900-07-01) (aged 65) Tokyo, Japan
Other names	Arakawa Yasohachi Kazunobu
Known for	Woodblock prints of kabuki actors, beautiful women

Toyohara Kunichika (Japanese: 豊原 国周; 30 June 1835 – 1 July 1900) was a Japanese woodblock print artist. Talented as a child, at about thirteen he became a student of Tokyo's then-leading print maker, Utagawa Kunisada. His deep appreciation and knowledge of kabuki drama led to his production primarily of yakusha-e, which are woodblock prints of kabuki actors and scenes from popular plays of the time.

An alcoholic and womanizer, Kunichika also portrayed women deemed beautiful (bijinga), contemporary social life, and a few landscapes and historical scenes. He worked successfully in the Edo period, and carried those traditions into the Meiji period. To his contemporaries and now to some modern art historians, this has been seen as a significant achievement during a transitional period of great social and political change in Japan's history.^[1]