Utagawa Kunisada, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni, was a major Japanese artist and master of color graphics (woodcuts) of the Edo period. Little detailed information about Utagawa Kunisada’s life has survived. He was born in Honjo, an eastern suburb of Edo, and was originally named Sumida Shogoro (Japanese: 角田 庄五朗 Sumida Shōgoro), and also Sumida Shōzō (Japanese: 角田 庄蔵 Sumida Shōzō). He died there almost 80 years later. His father died when the boy was not yet a year old. The family lived on the income from the ferry they owned.

The future artist’s talent for drawing manifested itself early on. His drawings were liked by Utagawa Toyokuni, the head of the Utagawa school, a famous artist of the time who painted portraits of kabuki actors, and in 1800 he took the young man as a student. From his teacher Sumida Shogoro received the name KUNISADA, the first hieroglyph of which was taken from the name Toyokuni. The first known print of Kunisada’s work dates back to 1807, but the next ones are dated back to 1809-10.

From 1808 he worked as a book illustrator, and the popularity of Kunisada’s drawings grew with each passing year. He was already called the “star” of the Utagawa school, and in 1810-11 he was considered equal in skill to his teacher Toyokuni. In 1808 or 1809 his first series of portraits of theater actors appeared; at the same time, a series of views of the city of Edo and bijin-ga were published. In 1813 he was officially recognized as the second most important master of the ukiyo-e style (after his teacher Toyokuni).

Starting in 1810, Kunisada used the pseudonym Gogotei, which was used until 1842 on all of his kabuki-themed prints, and from 1825 also the pseudonym Kotōrō for all of his other works. In 1844, Kunisada adopted the name of his teacher, and signed some of his works as Toyokuni III.

Utagawa Kunisada is one of the top three great ukiyo-e masters who came from the Utagawa school, along with Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, far surpassing the latter two in both popularity and sales of his works during his lifetime.

By the end of 2006, about 15,500 artistic developments by Kunisada are known, which cover about 23,500 sheets. This huge number corresponds to reality, since it is known that over the years of his work the artist created from 20,000 to 25,000 “plots”, which included 35-40 thousand individual sheets.

The Utagawa school paid the greatest attention to images related to the kabuki theater and actors. This genre accounts for about 60% of Kunisada’s works. At the same time, his works of bijinga (beautiful women) are also numerous, making up 15% of his total heritage (which is more than that of Kunisada’s contemporary artists). He also made portraits of sumo wrestlers. His landscapes and images of warriors are quite rare – about 100 sheets in each of these areas. Less studied by scientists is his work as a book illustrator, although, in all likelihood, Kunisada was no less active in this area of ​​art than in color engraving.