Toyohara Kunichika

Born Ōshima Yasohachi in 1835 in Edo (present-day Tokyo), Toyohara Kunichika showed artistic promise from a young age, preferring sketching to his apprenticeship in a thread and yarn store. By age twelve, he was already designing actor portraits for battledores. His talent soon led him to study with Toyohara Chikanobu, and then, around age thirteen, he became an apprentice in the studio of Utagawa Kunisada, the era's leading printmaker. By 1854, he had adopted the name "Kuni…