Utagawa Yoshitaki

Who was Utagawa Yoshitaki?

Utagawa Yoshitaki, who is also known as Ichiyōsai Yoshitaki, was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints who was active in both Edo and Osaka. He was also a painter and newspaper illustrator. His father was a paste merchant, and Yoshitaki became a student of Utagawa Yoshiume. Yoshitaki was the most prolific designer of woodblock prints in Osaka from the 1860s to the 1880s, producing more than 1,200 different prints, almost all of kabuki actors.