Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Yoshitoshi: Taira no Koremochi Vanquishing the Demon of Mount Togakushi

1890

Born in Edo in 1839, Yoshitoshi became a student of noted woodblock artist Kuniyoshi in 1850, at the age of eleven. His first print, a triptych of a historical naval battle, was issued just three years later. After Kuniyoshi's death in 1861, Yoshitoshi earned his living designing prints of kabuki actors. The 1860s were a time of increasing political unrest in Japan. A witness to the Battle of Ueno, a massacre of the shogun's supporters by imperial forces in 1868, Yoshitoshi's bloody battle prints during this period reflect the violence and upheaval of the time. Yoshitoshi experienced some commercial success in the late 1860s, earning popularity designing prints for newspapers, but in 1871 he fell into a deep depression, living in poverty and unable to work. The year 1873 marked a rebirth for Yoshitoshi, as he emerged from his illness and began using a new go or artist name: Taiso, which means great resurrection. The following decades would see the production of his greatest work. Considered his masterwork, Yoshitoshi's series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon was published from 1885-1892. These quiet and reflective prints, beautifully composed and drawn, feature subjects from traditional Japanese and Chinese history and legend, rendered with great sensitivity and emotion. Yoshitoshi's other important series from this period include New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts and Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners. Sadly, Yoshitoshi's mental illness returned, and he was hospitalized in 1891. He continued to work intermittently, but died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1892 at the age of fifty-three. Yoshitoshi was the most influential woodblock print artist of Meiji era Japan. His prints shimmer with energy and bring to life the tales of ancient Japan: the downfall of the once mighty, untouchable beauty, military conquests, and slices of everyday life. A consummate draftsman and imaginative designer, Yoshitoshi brought creativity, emotion, and elegance to images that continue to resonate with audiences today.