He is thought to have been born in Nihonbashi, Edo, the son of the dyer Yanagiya Kichiemon (another family tradition gives a different birthplace). He loved drawing from early childhood and is said to have drawn while looking at dye patterns and picture books.
At 14 he became a pupil of the popular ukiyo-e master Utagawa Toyokuni I, who is said to have recognized his talent early. He later studied with Katsukawa Shuntei and others too, absorbing many styles.
Around this time he began drawing actor prints and book illustrations, but was overshadowed by the popularity of senior pupils such as Kunisada, and his work hardly sold. A hard period of more than ten years followed.
Around this time he issued a series portraying, one by one, the heroes of the Chinese novel Water Margin, and it was a huge hit. Drawing their powerful bodies and tattoos with tremendous force, he came to be called "Kuniyoshi of the warrior prints".
Around this time he studied Western copperplate prints, adopted perspective and shading, and drew the landscape series Famous Places of the Eastern Capital. Showing new ways of rendering sky and water, he proved his talent in landscapes too.
Under the Tenpō Reforms, prints of actors and courtesans were banned and publishing was strictly controlled. Kuniyoshi devised humorous caricatures, drawing animals and monsters as if they were people or giving fish human faces, and kept publishing while slipping past the bans.
He published a print of Minamoto no Yorimitsu's battle with the earth spider. Rumor had it that the monsters and figures in it mocked the shogunate's policies, and it is said to have sold enormously.
Around this time he drew The Old Palace at Sōma, a triptych in which a gigantic skeleton looms across the whole picture. Its bold composition and accurate bones, thought to be based on Western anatomical drawings, amazed viewers.
Around this time he drew composite pictures such as one forming a single man's face out of many human bodies, with a title meaning "he looks fierce but is a really nice man". These playful trick pictures are still loved by many today.
A great cat lover, he always kept several cats and is said to have painted with a cat tucked inside his kimono. Generous and a natural leader, he drew many pupils such as Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; even Kawanabe Kyōsai studied with him briefly as a small boy.
He died in Edo. His wildly imaginative ideas and bold compositions were nearly forgotten for a time, but have recently been highly re-evaluated, and exhibitions of his work are hugely popular. His pupils sustained ukiyo-e and nihonga painting in the Meiji era.
Mizuno TadakuniMatthew C. PerryPhilipp Franz von SieboldUtagawa HiroshigeTakashima ShūhanUdagawa YōanTokugawa NariakiEgawa Hidetatsu
People of the Edo period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.