Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)

Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a great master of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and paintings in the late Edo period. Born in the Nihonbashi Honshirogane-cho area of Edo, Kuniyoshi's talents bloomed when he was still in his teens and he went to study under Utagawa Toyokuni I, a popular artist of the day. When Kuniyoshi was about 30 years old, he came into the limelight when he unveiled the series “One of the 108 Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori),” based on the Chinese tale “Water Margin.”