Torii Kiyonobu

An ukiyo-e artist from the mid-Edo period. The founder of the Torii school and the first head of the Torii family. There are differing theories about his birth and death years. Commonly known as Shobei. He is said to have come from Osaka to Edo with his father Kiyomoto in 1687 (4th year of the Jōkyō era), and soon began drawing signs for the four Edo theaters, but today his career can be traced with certainty from 1697 (10th year of the Genroku era). He assimilated the styles of Hishikawa Moronobu and Sugimura Jihei to create new styles, and showed great skill in both actor paintings and beautiful women paintings, but his greatest achievement is the creation of actor paintings in a single print. He also invented a dynamic style of painting called gourd-footed and earthworm-painting, which was suitable for theater signs, and formed the basis of the Torii school. His representative works include the single-sheet illustrations "Sawamura Kodenji's Before the Dew" and "Kamimura Kichisaburo's Third Princess," as well as the printed books "Elegant Four-Sided Folding Screen" and "Picture Book of Prostitutes" (both published in 1700).

The second Kiyonobu (date of birth and death unknown) is presumed to be the son of the first, and was active mainly in paintings of actors from the 1720s to around 1760. There is also a theory that there were three or more people who bore the name Kiyonobu.

[Hidetake Asano]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸中期の浮世絵師。鳥居派の始祖で、鳥居家初代当主。生没年については異説もある。俗称庄兵衛。父の清元とともに1687年（貞享4）大坂から江戸に下り、まもなく江戸四座の芝居看板を描くようになったと伝えるが、今日確実に画歴をたどれるのは1697年（元禄10）からである。菱川師宣(ひしかわもろのぶ)、杉村治兵衛風を消化して新様をくふうし、役者絵・美人画双方に妙技を振るったが、とりわけ一枚摺(ずり)の役者絵を創始した功績は大きい。また瓢箪足(ひょうたんあし)・蚯蚓描(みみずがき)とよばれる芝居看板にふさわしい躍動的な描法を編み出し、鳥居派の基礎を形づくった。代表作は一枚絵の『沢村小伝次の露の前』『上村(かみむら)吉三郎の女三の宮』、版本の『風流四方屏風(びょうぶ)』『娼妓画牒(けいせいえほん)』（ともに1700刊）など。

　なお2代清信（生没年未詳）は初代の子と推定され、1720年代から1760年ごろまで役者絵を中心に活躍した。また、清信を名のったのは3人以上いたとの説もある。

［浅野秀剛］

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