Born into a samurai family and later became a rōnin before turning to ukiyo-e. His early works were delicate and elegant, while his later figures became more expressive and dynamic. His shunga series feature carefully drawn seasonal details in the backgrounds. (dates unknown)
157 words
Born into a samurai family and later bec...
Kunisada studied under Toyokuni I from a...
A pupil of Toyokuni I, skilled in perspe...
A pupil of Kunisada (Toyokuni III) and a...
Kuniyoshi studied under Toyokuni I and r...
Entered the studio of Utagawa Toyoharu a...
A pupil of Kuniyoshi active across genre...
Both an artist and a publisher who intro...
Trained under Shunei; known for beauties...
A pupil of Katsukawa Shunshō who admired...
Studied under Katsukawa Shunshō and crea...
Self-taught in painting and calligraphy ...
Studied under Toriyama Sekien, a pioneer...
Artist, writer and brothel-keeper, stron...
Orphaned and temple-raised, he became a ...
A high-ranking hatamoto (samurai) known ...
Active in beauty portraits and book illu...
Often called the “founder of ukiyo-e,” M...
A pupil of Hishikawa Moronobu who follow...
Hokusai’s pupil and adopted son, known f...
Multi-colour printing using several colo...
A secret name an artist used on shunga (...
Witty, incisive observation; in erotica ...
An erotic book, also called wa-jirushi o...
A composition showing the face and upper...
An explicit close-up of the female genit...
Text written into the margins—characters...
A set or series of images; ketsudai mean...
A “mechanical book” whose images open ou...
Shunga is a genre of Japanese art that f...
An erotic book; used interchangeably wit...
Sex toys and aphrodisiacs. Hokusai’s Man...
Slang for the female genitals....
The “large-head” beauty portrait; Utamar...
The woman-on-top form of mukudori; cited...
Prints that avoid red pigments in favour...
A colloquial term for the female genital...
Other names for shunga and erotic books;...
An archaic word for sexual union....
A popular Edo genre of “little-man stori...
A colloquial term for the male genitals....
Slang for the mutual oral position (“six...
The deity of conjugal harmony (originall...
Slang for erotic books (makura-zōshi); t...
Other names for shunga and erotic books—...
Gradation worked directly on the block f...
Ukiyo-e using Western linear perspective...
The word ukiyo originally meant “the sor...
Prints given a lacquer-like gloss....
Embossing that raises a pattern in the w...
Luxurious printing using gold and silver...
Monochrome woodblock prints produced usi...
Full multi-block colour woodblock printi...
Early hand-coloured prints using red-lea...
Hand-colouring applied to a monochrome p...
Pictures painted directly by brush rathe...
Multi-colored woodblock prints developed...
A tall, narrow format for pasting on pil...
Prints hand-coloured with safflower red ...
Prints hand-coloured with safflower red ...
An early multi-colour stage printed with...
An intermediate format between ōban and ...
A horizontal handscroll viewed by unroll...
A large print format....
A large book format....
A folding (concertina) album....
An album or accordion format mounting pi...
A small book....
A long narrow format, named for poem-sli...
A fragment cut from a scroll or album....
A medium print format....
The frontispiece picture opening a book....
A half-paper book format, common for ero...
A miniature format....
A landscape (wide) book format; the koba...
1772–1781....
1854–1860....
Roughly the late 18th–19th century....
Roughly the 17th century; here, works by...
Roughly the early-to-mid 18th century....
1848–1855....
1748–1751....
1789–1801; the Kansei Reforms brought su...
Reforms whose sumptuary laws cracked dow...
Shogunal reforms after which erotic book...
1801–1804....
1864–1865; Kunisada died in Genji 1 (186...
1688–1704; Moronobu died in Genroku 7 (1...
Laws restricting luxury, under which uki...
1711–1716....
1684–1688....
1681–1684....
1830–1844....
1781–1789....
1804–1818....
1861–1864....
1818–1830....
1751–1764....
1868–1912; Koikawa Shōzan died in Meiji ...
1764–1772....
A high-ranking Yoshiwara courtesan....
A house that retained courtesans and gei...
A lending library that toured customers’...
A mosquito net—shorthand in shunga for a...
A temporary brothel licensed to operate ...
A woman who entertained with music and d...
A writer of popular Edo fiction (gesaku)...
A simplified court robe (a lighter jūnih...
A purple priestly robe granted by the em...
An iridescent green-to-red sheen, charac...
Originally an infant; later a temple pag...
A teahouse; also a place to meet courtes...
A teahouse used for clandestine trysts....
An Edo box-pillow; often shown overturne...
A high-ranking samurai in direct service...
A small pouch for cosmetics, with tissue...
A summer reed mat, its checks signalling...
A publisher of prints and books (e.g., T...
An Edo pleasure district; the setting of...
Safflower rouge; built up in layers it g...
A Portuguese-derived confection (from bo...
A courtesan’s true lover, met off the cl...
A courtesan working in the quarters....
A stylish look with a comb worn sideways...
Prints depicting the newly opened port o...
Edo’s licensed pleasure quarter; when it...
A Ryōgoku shop specialising in sex toys ...
An Edo restaurant serving food, often wi...
A masterless samurai; Koryūsai was one b...
The mythical “Floating Bridge of Heaven”...
The creator deities of Japanese myth who...
The Muromachi–Edo painting school whose ...
Comic and satirical waka; Shigenobu also...
Picture-led popular booklets; illustrate...
Murasaki Shikibu’s classic, often refere...
Ihara Saikaku’s novel; Moronobu illustra...
Tamenaga Shunsui’s popular ninjōbon, dra...
The Chinese tale; Kuniyoshi’s prints of ...
Short colloquial verse on manners and fe...
Bakin’s epic novel; Yanagawa Shigenobu i...
Late-Edo popular fiction of love and fee...
Hokusai’s famous series of landscape pri...
Hokusai’s sketchbooks and drawing manual...
Moronobu’s masterpiece, familiar from te...
Noh chant texts; Shūgen Iro-naoshi took ...
Romantic, often fantastical long novels;...
An illustrated Edo encyclopedia; it reco...
Author of Life of an Amorous Man and oth...
An old Edo publishing house that issued ...
A leading Edo cultural figure and satiri...
Founder of the Katsukawa school; teacher...
A Heian courtier-poet; linked to the Ōsh...
A gesaku writer; his pupil Jūjitei Sanku...
A gesaku writer; author of Shunshoku Ume...
The celebrated Edo publisher who worked ...
The founding figure of yōkai illustratio...
A publisher who, with Tsutaya, issued Hi...
Copyright © Smappa! Group / SCRAMRICE Ltd. All Rights Reserved.