Utagawa Kunikazu (1847 ~ 1881)

Utagawa Kunikazu, also known as Isshūsai (一珠齋), was an artist from Ōsaka (大阪) active from the late Edo period to the 1880s of the Meiji era. He produced hundreds of prints, and new ones are still being discovered today as research on him continues. Kunikazu worked almost exclusively in the medium format (chūban, 中判), but he did not focus solely on the yakusha-e (役者絵, actor prints) genre, as most Ōsaka artists did. Instead, he expanded his production to include fūkei-ga (風景画, landscapes), sensō-e (戦争絵, war prints), nagasaki-e (長崎絵, images of Nagasaki), and bijin-ga (美人画, images of beautiful women).
It is known that Kunikazu may have spent a period of his life in Edo (江戸, modern Tokyo, 東京) as a disciple of Kunisada Utagawa (歌川国貞), a renowned ukiyo-e master. Kunikazu is best known for his actor prints, but he also produced landscapes and kuchi-e (口絵, book frontispieces), demonstrating a versatility that extends beyond the typical focus on kabuki actors.