Kunichika |The Nine Dragooned and The Tattooed Priest, The Water Margin

Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900)

Toyohara Kunichika’s father ran a bathhouse, and there’s a good deal of sly humor and energy in his son’s work, whether it be in his depictions of historical scenes, beautiful women — bijin — or a gaggle of naked beautiful women cavorting joyously in, yes, a bathhouse.

But without a doubt, Kunichika’s most important genre was yakusha-e, woodblock prints of kabuki actors and scenes from popular plays.

A student of Kunisada, Kunichika worked in both the Edo and Meiji periods and produced more than 120 series for more than 100 publishers. He was fascinated by examples of Western art then being seen for the first time in Japan. Andreas Marks, in his fine book, “Japanese Woodblock Prints,” notes that Kunichika often placed his scenes within frames as if they were oil paintings. And so it was a great honor when he was asked to contribute to the world exhibition in Paris in 1867, at the very dawn of Modern Japan.