Emperor Tenji

1841–1843

Tenpo Reforms: actors and courtesans banned

The Tenpo Reforms, meant to ease an economic crisis, curb displays of luxury and officially ban the depiction of courtesans and actors. Kuniyoshi answers with caricature prints and comic pictures (giga) that disguise real actors and courtesans; many allegorically criticize the shogunate — for example a 1843 design of Minamoto no Yorimitsu asleep, haunted by the Earth Spider and his demons — and become popular among a politically dissatisfied public.

1843

A warning from the authorities and destroyed blocks

The authorities warn him for making caricatures of the shogun and his chief minister, and his printing blocks are confiscated and destroyed.

late 1840s

Actors return — in a “childish” manner

He returns to actor prints (other accounts say by the early 1850s), evading censorship with childish, cartoon-like portraits of kabuki actors; the best known is “Scribbling on the storehouse wall”, where kana are sloppily written in a childlike hand under the faces. He also puts cats in the place of humans in kabuki and satirical prints and experiments with wide composition and magnified details, as in “Masakado's daughter the princess Takiyasha, at the old Soma palace”.