Chats on Japanese Prints

by Arthur Davison Ficke

Following Toyokuni, at least four men used the name made famous by him. The first of these, Toyokuni II, was that same Toyokuni Gosotei of whom we shall treat under the heading of Landscape. His use of the name Toyokuni appears to have been between the years 1825 and 1835.

Toyokuni III was better known as Kunisada I; for though he was born in 1786 and lived until 1865, he did not adopt the name of Toyokuni until about 1844. He added to our confusion by the fact that he signed himself "Toyokuni" or "Toyokuni II," never recognizing the claims of the real Toyokuni II to the name. Most frequently Kunisada's Toyokuni signature is enclosed in a long red cartouch, a device never used by Toyokuni I. This very undistinguished artist was one of the most prolific producers of the school. All that meaningless complexity of design, coarseness of colour, and carelessness of printing which we associate with the final ruin of the art of colour-prints finds full expression in him. Every tourist returning from Japan brings back dozens of crudely coloured prints by him or by the members of his school, under the misapprehension that these are the famous and valuable Japanese prints of which he has vaguely heard. The only figure work of Kunisada's that I am able to recall with any pleasure is his really notable Memorial Portrait of Hiroshige, a dignified and impressive print. The few landscapes he produced are of much greater beauty than his figures, and one is inclined to wish that he had done more in this field and less in the other.

KUNISADA.

Toyokuni IV was also known as Kunisada II and as Kunimasa II. Born 1833, he died 1880. His prints, largely executed in cheap analine colours, set one's teeth on edge with some of the most shrieking discords that I have ever encountered. There exists an unfortunate collector who proudly brought back from Japan one hundred and nineteen triptychs by this artist.

Toyokuni V was also called Kunisada III and Kunimasa III. His work was worthless.

Kunimasa I (1772-1810) was an exceedingly able pupil of Toyokuni, who was influenced by Sharaku. Some of his work is very fine; he stands out as one of the few notable designers of this group.

Kuninaga, who died in 1804, was a rare pupil of Toyokuni. His work is pleasant, though it has no great distinction; but it is far more attractive than the work of most of these men, for the reason that he had the good luck to die before the period of general disintegration began. The Spaulding Collection contains a fine diptych by him, in black and several shades of yellow, in the early style of Toyokuni.

Kunimitsu was also an early pupil of Toyokuni. His work is agreeable but not notable.

From the vast number of minor followers of the Toyokuni tradition, I select the following as the most common: Kuniyasu I, Kuniyasu II, Toyokiyo, Toyohiro II, Kunifusa, Kunihiro, Kunitane, Kunikatsu, Kunihisa, Kunitera, Kuniteru, Kunikane I, Kunikane II, Kunitaka, Kunimune, Kunihiko, Kunitoki, Kuniyuki, Kunitsuma, Kunikiyo, Kunihana, Kunitohisa, Kunimichi I, Kunimichi II, Kuniao I, Kuniao II, Kunitora, Kunitaki, Kunitsugi I, Kunitsugi II, Kunitada, Kuninobu II, Kuniaki, Kiyokuni, Kunimaru I, Kunimaru II, Kunichika, Chikashige, Yoshitaki, Yoshitsuru, Yoshiume, Yoshitsuna, Yoshisato, Yoshifuji, Yoshikage, Yoshikuni, Yoshichika, Yoshikazu, Yoshiharu, Shunbeni, Yoshitomi, Yoshifusa, Sugakudo, Sencho, Tominobu.