The Floating World

1798–1861

Utagawa Kuniyoshi歌川国芳

Kuniyoshi spent a decade in obscurity before the Suikoden outlaws made him famous overnight, and he repaid the medium with four decades of astonishments: warriors, cats, giant skeletons, satire sharp enough to summon the censors. He kept a studio full of students and strays, and the wit of the floating world’s last generation — Yoshitoshi among them — was trained at his knee.

The workshop

His triptychs treat three sheets as one screen-wide stage, a compositional gamble publishers indulged because his name sold. The Takiyasha skeleton spans all three sheets — a carver’s and printer’s feat as much as a painter’s.

In the house

Rōshi Ensei — Utagawa KuniyoshiOne Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Rōshi EnseiUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30 · from $69.00Tanmeijirō Genshōgo — Utagawa KuniyoshiOne Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Tanmeijirō GenshōgoUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30Kaoshō Rochishin — Utagawa KuniyoshiOne Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Kaoshō RochishinUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30Kokusenpū Riki — Utagawa KuniyoshiOne Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Kokusenpū RikiUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre — Utagawa KuniyoshiUtagawa KuniyoshiTakiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton SpectreUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1844The Earth Spider Conjures Demons at the Mansion of Minamoto no Raikō — Utagawa KuniyoshiUtagawa KuniyoshiThe Earth Spider Conjures Demons at the Mansion of Minamoto no RaikōUtagawa Kuniyoshi · 1843The Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune’s Ship in Daimotsu Bay — Utagawa KuniyoshiUtagawa KuniyoshiThe Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune’s Ship in Daimotsu BayUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1849–1851