was not interested the young artist went on to see other publishers. The young artists’ initial payment was little if not nominal as he was still unknown and his design a sizeable risk to the publisher. If successful, the young talent was able to make himself a name and the publishers raised the payment and now started to come to him for designs. Over the years, a relationship between artist and publisher would be established and the artist would gain more freedom in his endeavors or be able to demand from the publisher the hiring of a specific woodblock cutter who he felt best for his design. To give an example of a long-term relation, Yamaguchiya Tōbei, the most active publisher in ukiyo-e history (who produced prints from c.1805 to 1895) issued in fifty-plus years, between c.1813 and 1864, around 700 different designs of Kunisada, the most active artist in ukiyo-e history.
Details of the design process are also not known today, starting with the inspiration, for example, for actor prints. How often did a print artist actually visit the kabuki theater to see a performance in order to be able to accurately capture a specific scene or an actor’s pose? Did he attend rehearsals or the openings? Did each artist go by himself or did several get together for a visit to the theaters? How deep was the rivalry or the companionship between the artists? How often did an artist visit the pleasure quarters to find inspiration for beauty prints and also for the very detailed erotic prints?
Biographical information about most of the artists is scarce as well. It seems that people from all classes could become print artists, if they were talented enough of course. Of Koryūsai, Eishi, Eisen, Chikanobu, and Kiyochika we know that they were originally from samurai families. Hiroshige’s and Kyōsai’s fathers were fire officers; Kiyonaga and Shigemasa were sons of booksellers; Yoshitoshi and Gekkō came from merchant families. Other artists like Kiyonobu, the son of an actor, and Eizan, the son of a Kanō-school painter, were already born into artistic families. In most cases, print artists started with their careers at a young age as apprentices of painters or other print artists where they learned how to draw. Hokusai is an exception as he was initially trained as a carver of woodblocks until he shifted careers when he was 18 years old.
For the majority of the artists we are forced to interpret what we can from their work as no reliable information exists about their social lives. One of the most trustworthy sources are grave stones, which can also bear the names of other family members. For instance, Kunisada’s oldest daughter married Kunimasa III who became then Kunisada II. Yoshiiku had ten children with his second wife, all but one of which died early. Kunichika’s unsettled lifestyle resulted in frequently changing partners as well as houses, but he probably did not move as often as Hokusai’s allegedly ninety times.
It is almost impossible to estimate the fame and wealth of a print artist. The most popular ones were certainly not treated as ordinary craftsmen. The name of such an artist was a guarantor for higher sales and they were, for example, commissioned to simply design the cover of a book while a lesser-known artist provided the illustrations for the inside pages. In the Meiji period, prints bear not only the artist’s signature but were ordered to carry also his family and given names along with his address. The address, however, is no indication of how large their properties were. A rare picture of an artist house is in a book on the Ansei Edo Earthquake of 1855, showing Kunisada’s large house with additional storage building, but it cannot be considered as standard for all artists because of Kunisada’s unparalleled success.
Kiyonobu
1664–1729
Given name: Shōbei. Art surname: Torii.
Born in Osaka in 1664, Kiyonobu is believed to be the son of the Osaka actor of female roles (onnagata) Torii Kiyomoto (1645–1702). Kiyomoto moved to Edo in 1687 and in 1690, started to paint kanban-e, pictures for billboards displayed in front of the theaters to announce performances, and gradually acquired a monopoly of billboard pictures and picture programs (banzuke-e) for the four main theaters. Kiyonobu succeeded as head of the family in 1702 and continued in the line of his father. He began to illustrate books and design prints and is traditionally seen as the first teacher of the Torii School establishing the style of the Torii School described as “gourd legs and earthworm outlines” (hyōtan ashi, mimizu gaki). He was especially active in depictions of the kabuki theatre as seen in signboards, playbooks, hanging scrolls, and single-sheet prints and is believed to have illustrated many of the unsigned playbooks as well. But Kiyonobu did not restrict himself to the theater and drew also beautiful women and erotica (shunga).
His earliest work seems to be illustrations in the book “One Hundred Actors of All Ages” (Kokon shibai hyakunin isshu) from 1693, and he is believed to have begun composing actor prints in 1698. He was the first to design single-sheet actor prints that capture the expressive pose (mie) and the rough acting style (aragoto) of the actors of the time. In the late 1710s, he and many others concentrated on the small and narrow hosoban format which facilitated greater productivity. Kiyonobu is thought to have designed around one hundred erotic prints, usually sold in sets of ten or twelve and mounted in albums or as hand scrolls. At least eight such sets are known to have survived.
Until 1760, prints with the signature “Kiyonobu” exist. Since 1725, the style of the signature is very different and it is therefore believed that Kiyonobu retired at that time and a second Kiyonobu continued to use the name. Kiyonobu died in the summer of 1729 and is buried at Somei Cemetary (Somei Reien). His posthumous Buddhist name is Jōgen’in Kiyonobu Hitachi Shinji.
1719 The actors Ichikawa Danjūrō II as Hiranoya Tokubei and Sanogawa Mangiku as Ohatsu of the Tenmaya in the play Sogazaki Shinjū, Nakamura Theater, IV/1719. 21.6 x 29.8 cm, sumizuri-e. Honolulu Academy of Arts: Gift of Dr. & Mrs. C.M. Cooke, 1935 (10382). Mutō 2005, no. 49.
1710s Kiyonobu (attr.) Chō Ryō (Chin. Zhang Liang), riding a dragon, returns the shoe. (Left sheet of a diptych). Hosoban tan-e. National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
1720 The actor Fujimura Handayū I as Nishikigi in the play Michinoku Taiheiki, Nakamura Theater, XI/1720. Hosoban tan-e. Publisher: Igaya Kan’emon. Honolulu Academy of Arts: Gift of James A. Michener, 1954; photography by Tim Siegert (13429). Mutō 2005, no. 26.
1718 Kiyonobu. The actor Ichikawa Kuzō I as Miura Arajirō in the play Zen kunen yoroi kurabe, Morita Theater, XI/1718 Hosoban tan-e Publisher: Emiya Kichiemon Honolulu Academy of Arts: Gift of James A. Michener, 1988; photography by Tim Siegert (20503) Ref.: Mutō 2005, no. 9
Kiyonobu II
Act. c. 1725–61
Art surname: Torii.
The Torii family lineage is not clear and does not provide enough information on the early Torii artists. Kiyonobu II is believed to have succeeded Kiyonobu at his retirement in 1725, certainly after his death in 1729. Dateable actor prints until 1760 exist bearing the signature “Kiyonobu”. Kiyonobu II was together with Kiyomasu II the principal Torii artists of their time. Much in the style of Kiyonobu but without his power, Kiyonobu II was immensely prolific for his time and he worked for around twenty different publishers. He designed almost 300 actor prints in the dominant narrow hosoban format and about one dozen in other formats.
