Utagawa Kunisada

1786～1864
He was an Ukiyo-e artist, Toyokuni UtagawaⅡ. Kunisada became a pupil of Toyokuni UtagawaⅠ(歌川豊国) at the age of 15. He created new genre of Ukiyoe called Genji-e (源氏絵). Yakusya Ookubie (役者大首絵) series are regarded as Kunisada’s crystallization. Kunisada called himself as Toyokuni UtagawaⅡ, but Toyokuni’s adopted son, Toyoshige succeeded to the name of ToyokuniⅡ. So Kunisada called Toyokuni Ⅲ today.