Utagawa Yoshiiku

[1] Born the son of teahouse proprietor Asakusa Tamichi in 1833, Yoshiiku became a student of ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi toward the end of the 1840s.

[2] Yoshiiku's earliest works were portraits of actors (yakusha-e), beauties (bijin-ga), and warriors (musha-e).

He later followed Kuniyoshi into making satirical and humorous pieces, and became the leading name in the field after Kuniyosh's death in 1861.

He was buried at Anseiji temple in Asakusa and given the posthumous Buddhist name Juzen'in Hōkinikkaku Koji.

He cooperated with Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in the production of the muzan-e ("cruel pictures") series Eimei nijūhasshūku ("Twenty-eight famous murders with verse").

Signatures of Utagawa Yoshiiku reading from left to right: “Chōkarō Yoshiiku ga ” (朝霞楼　芳幾　画), “Ikkeisai Yoshiiku ga ” (一恵斎　芳幾　画), and “Ikkunsai Yoshiiku ga ” (一薫斎　芳幾　画)