Japan: 'Tachibana Muneshige with his Choken', woodblock print by Utagawa Yoshitora (active 1850-1880), 1866

Utagawa Yoshitora (active 1850-1880) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist and book illustrator. Though both his date of birth and death are unknown, what is known is that Yoshitora was born in Edo and that he eventually became Utagawa Kuniyoshi's oldest pupil.

Yoshitora soon showed excellence in his prints of bijinga (beautiful women), kabuki actors and warriors, producing over 60 print series and illustrating more than 100 books. He was imprisoned and manacled for forty days by censors who interpreted one of his prints as a criticism of authority, which resulted in his expulsion from Kuniyoshi's studio, though he still continued to illustrate prolifically.

From the 1860s onwards, Yoshitora began to produce Yokohama-e prints of foreigners after Japan's rapid modernisations and opening up. He would collaborate on many landscape series and began working in newspapers in the Meiji Period. His last known work appeared in 1882.

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Pictures From History