Utagawa Kunisada III

1848 – 1920

Japanese Woodblock Print

CYDT Collection

Utagawa Kunisada III was an ukiyo-e printmaker of the Utagawa school, specializing in yakusha-e. He began studying under Utagawa Kunisada I at the age of 10, and continued under Kunisada II after their master's death.
He originally signed his prints "Kunimasa" or "Baidō Kunimasa". About 1889, he began signing his prints "Kunisada", "Baidō Kunisada" or "Kōchōrō Kunisada". By 1892, he was using "Hōsai", "Kōchōrō Hōsai", "Baidō Hōsai", and "Utagawa Hōsai".

Utagawa Kunisada III (歌川国貞) (1848–1920) was an ukiyo-e printmaker of the Utagawa school, specializing in yakusha-e (pictures of kabuki actors). He began studying under Utagawa Kunisada I at the age of 10, and continued under Kunisada II after their master's death.

He originally signed his prints "Kunimasa" or "Baidō Kunimasa". About 1889, he began signing his prints "Kunisada", "Baidō Kunisada" or "Kōchōrō Kunisada". By 1892, he was using "Hōsai", "Kōchōrō Hōsai", "Baidō Hōsai", and "Utagawa Hōsai".The Utagawa school (歌川派^?) was a group of Japanese woodblock printartists, founded by Toyoharu. His pupil, Toyokuni I, took over after Toyoharu's death and raised the group to become the most famous and powerful woodblock print school for the remainder of the 19th century.

Hiroshige,^] Kunisada, Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi were Utagawa students. The school became so successful and well known that today more than half of all surviving ukiyo-e prints are from it.

Founder Toyoharu adopted Western-style deep perspective, an innovation in Japanese art. His immediate followers, Utagawa Toyohiro and Utagawa Toyokuni adopted bolder, more sensuous styles than Toyoharu and specialized in different genres — Toyohiro in landscapes and Toyokuni in kabuki actor prints. Later artists in the school specialized in other genres, such as warrior prints and mythic parodies.