Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a true son of Edo. Born near Nihonbashi in 1797, his father a dyer, he grew up among the hoi polloi in the crowded streets of the low city, where popular stories of tattooed otokodate, the revered "street knights" of the kabuki stage, were capturing people's imagination. Bluff in behavior, loyal to his friends and generous to his pupils, he also had a well-known passion for cats, whom he often depicted lovingly and humorously in his work.

Kuniyoshi: Visionary of the Floating World, Edited by Rossella Menegazzo.
215 pages
SKIRA, Art.

'Octopus' ('Tako,' c. 1842) from the series 'Cats Forming Written Characters' | UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI