Toyohara Kunichika loved to draw. As a child, he was always scribbling, doodling, sketching. His enthusiasm was such that it probably cost him his first apprenticeship, in a yarn and thread shop, where there were few opportunities to hold a brush.

Fortunately, he was happier in his brother’s padded oshi-e fabric business, where he contributed illustrations. But it was only when he began training as an ukiyo-e artist, culminating around 1848 when he entered the studio of Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864), the most prolific and commercially successful woodblock print designer of all time, that he felt he had found a place where he could give his passion free rein.

This year marks the 190th anniversary of the birth of Kunichika (1835-1900). For this occasion, the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward presents a comprehensive retrospective featuring 211 artworks. These are displayed over two periods — Feb. 1 through Feb. 24 and March 1 through March 24 — with a changeover scheduled for the last week of February.