Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) was a wood block print artist who established a bold style of portraits of actors which dominated later generations of ukiyoe artists. They subsequently became popular with collectors outside Japan. Toyokuni was fascinated by the drama of kabuki theater which he contrived to convey this in his portraits. Kabuki was becoming increasingly popular at the time and Toyokuni chronicled the rise of the drama and the actors.
