(b Edo, 1786; d Edo, 1864). Woodblock print designer and book illustrator. As a child he was gifted at drawing and produced yakushae (‘pictures of actors’) without formal training. Around 1801 he became a student of (2) Utagawa Toyokuni I. Kunisada’s earliest works are the illustrations for gokan (popular novels), Oisenukado kesho no Wakamizu (‘Fresh water for make-up’; 1807; Tokyo, Dai Tokyu Mem. Found.). In the following year he became famous for his illustrations of KITAO MASANOBU’s gokan, Kagamiyama homare no adauchi (‘Honourable revenge of Kagamlyama’; Tokyo, Waseda U.). A narrow-format (hosoban) bijinga (‘picture of beautiful women’), Furyu mitate Otsue (‘Fanciful analogy of Otsue’; 1809; Tokyo, Sakai Col.), is his earliest known single-sheet print, which he signed Kunisada. From 1811 he began to use the artist’s name Gototei. The taut, powerful lines of the high-spirited five-piece bijinga series Hokkoku goshikizumi and the yakushae series Oatari kyogen no uchi are evidence of a maturing style in this period. In the early 1820s Kunisada’s career reached its peak, with the bijinga series Hoshi no shimo tosei fuzoku (‘Starry frost modern manners’; see fig.), Tosei sanjuni so (‘Thirty-two modern faces’; Tokyo, Seikado Bunko) and Imafu kesho kagami (‘Modern make-up mirror; priv. col.). After the death of Toyokuni I in 1825, Kunisada became the de facto head of the Utagawa studio, supplanting Toyokuni I’s adopted son, Toyoshige (Toyokuni II; 1802–35). Kunisada’s prints were admired more for their superb technique than for their feeling or warmth. The works of his later period are marred by conventionality caused by overproduction. He continued to be popular, however, working until the year of his death. He was succeeded by Kunisada II (1823–80).

Part of the Utagawa family

• Utagawa Kunisada I (1786-1864)
  • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(d): Prints and books: Edo period: prints and after: Historical development: c. 1800–c. 1820
  • groups and movements
    • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(e): Prints, c 1820–1868
    • Utagawa
  • pupils
    • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(e): Prints, c 1820–1868
    • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(e): Prints, c 1820–1868
    • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(f): Prints, 1868–c 1900
  • teachers
    • Utagawa: (2) Utagawa Toyokuni I
  • works
    • Japan, §VI, 4(iv)(b): Painting: Late: Genre painting: Ukiyoe
    • Japan, §IX, 2(iii): Illustrated books, Edo period and after
    • Japan, §IX, 3(i)(a): Prints, Edo period and after: Process and tools
    • Japan, §IX, 3(ii)(a): Prints, Edo period & after: Production, subject-matter & social context
    • Japan, §IX, 3(iii)(e): Prints, c 1820–1868