Utagawa Toyoharu

He was an ukiyo-e artist of the late Edo period, and the founder of the Utagawa school. He is said to have been born in Kyushu, but this is not certain. His given name was Masaki, and he was commonly known as Shojiro, later Shinemon, and his other pseudonyms included Ichiryusai and Senryusai. It is said that he took the surname Utagawa as his artist name because he lived in Udagawacho, Shiba, Edo. He first studied under the Kano school painter Tsurusawa Tangei in Kyoto, and later traveled to Edo to study under Toriyama Sekien. His range of work was wide, and he produced many ukiyo-e woodblock prints and hand-painted paintings, but he left behind fine works of hand-painted portraits of beautiful women and ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Furthermore, Toyoharu's school included the first Utagawa Toyokuni and Utagawa Toyohiro, who wielded great influence in the ukiyo-e world at the end of the Edo period.

[Nagata Seiji]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期の浮世絵師で、歌川派の祖。出身は九州と伝えられるが、さだかではない。名は昌樹、俗称を庄次郎(しょうじろう)、のち新右衛門(しんえもん)といい、別号には一龍斎(いちりゅうさい)、潜龍斎(せんりゅうさい)などがある。歌川を画姓としたのは、江戸・芝の宇田川町に住んだことによると伝わる。初め京都で狩野(かのう)派の絵師鶴沢探鯨(つるさわたんげい)に学び、のち江戸へ下って鳥山石燕(とりやませきえん)に師事したといわれる。作域は広く、浮世絵版画、肉筆画ともに多くを描いたが、肉筆画では美人図、浮世絵版画では浮絵に佳作を残している。

　なお、豊春門下からは、初世歌川豊国や歌川豊広が出て、幕末の浮世絵界に一大勢力を誇った。

［永田生慈］

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