Utagawa Toyokuni II

Utagawa Toyokuni II (1777–1835), also known as Toyoshige, was a designer of ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints in Edo. He was also known as Gosotei Toyokuni or Hongo Toyokuni, the latter in reference to the district of Edo in which he lived, and over his career he also used the gō Ichibetsusai, Ichiesai and Ichiryūsai. He was the pupil, son-in-law and adopted son of Toyokuni I. The former used the name Toyoshige (豊重) until 1826, the year after his teacher's death, when the family gave him the right to use his teacher's name and he began signing his work Toyokuni (豊国). In 1835 he died, and in 1844 the family persuaded Kunisada, the most famous student of Toyokuni I, to use the name "Toyokuni" and become leader of the school. Although Kunisada never recognised Toyoshige's right to the name Toyokuni, nevertheless Kunisada after 1844 is always referred to as Toyokuni III.

Toyoshige's earliest known works date to 1823; he is remembered for his yakusha-e and bijinga, as well as his illustrations for gōkan. In the early 1830s he produced fine fūkeiga landscape prints, strongly inspired by Hokuju and Hokusai, and also created some paintings.

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