Utagawa Kokunimasa
Utagawa Kokunimasa 歌川小国政 (1874 – 1944)
BIOGRAPHY
Sources: Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints:1900 – 1975, Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada, University of Hawaii. 1992, p. 164; The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, Amy Reigle Newland, Hotei Publishing Company, 2005, Volume 2, p. 503, Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900, Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2010, p. 176; Japan wikipedia entry https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%8C%E5%B7%9D%E5%9B%BD%E6%94%BF_%285%E4%BB%A3%E7%9B%AE%29 [accessed 12-25-23] There is confusion about the true identity of this artist who may be credited with work belonging to two different artists, the second of which may have signed his work Kunimasa V (which appears on a few prints in 1891.) What most sources agree on is that he was born in 1874 and was the eldest son of Utagawa Kunimasa IV (1848-1920), who was also known as Kunisada III, Baidō Hōsai, Baidō Kunimasa and Toyokuni V.) In addition to Kokunimasa, meaning "Kunimasa Junior," he used the gō (artist names) Baidō 楳堂 and Ryūkei or Ryūa 柳蛙. His first work appears in 1889 when, if his date of birth is correct, he was only fifteen years old. He produced humorous pictures, caricatures, actor portraits, genre pictures and Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese war prints. He signed Sino-Japanese War prints Kokunimasa and his Russo-Japanese prints Ryūkei.
His death date is commonly given as 1944, but his Japanese wikepedia entry states he passed away prior to the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake.
Signatures and Seals of the Artist (a sampling)
梅堂小国政筆
Baidō Kokunimasa hitsu
with Toshidama seal
1897
小国政
Kokunimasa
with plum blossom seal
柳蛙
Ryūa
with frog seal
1899
柳蛙
Ryūa with square 江戸子 "Edokko" seal
(from Russo-Japanese War Print)
1904
柳蛙
Ryūa with square 楳堂 之畫 seals
梅堂小国政
Baidō Kokunimasa
1894
太郎坊小国政画
Tarōbō Kokunimasa ga
Prints in Collection
[BELOW PRINTS MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK GIFTED TO THE JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON]
click on thumbnail for print details
Illustration of the Ceremony for the Promulgation of the Constitution of Great Japan, 1889
IHL Cat. #1104*
Fushimichō Jishin no Yobanashi,
October 1891
IHL Cat. #1895
Illustration of Meeting at the General
Staff Headquarters, August 1894
IHL Cat. #2091*
Illustration of a Scouting Patrol in a Skirmish in the Vicinity of Port Arthur,
October 1894
IHL Cat. #1950*
Japanese Troops Attack the Chinese Cavalry in the Vicinity of Hushan,
October 1894
IHL Cat. #319*
Great Imperial Victory at the
Fierce Battle at Pyong-Yang, 1895
IHL Cat. #305*
Illustration of the Fierce Battle in the Falling Snow at Dengzhou Fu near
Wei-Hai-Wei, 1895
IHL Cat. #90*
Illustration of Our Army’s Triumphal Return and Distinguished Service Awards, 1895
IHL Cat. #2283*
A Shinpa Play "Comedy, Fueteru", 1899
IHL Cat. #288
Battle Between the Japanese and Russians at Seoul: Hurrah for the Great Victory of the Japanese Empire, 1904
IHL Cat. #85*
Telegraphic Record of the Russo-Japanese War: Manchurian Mounted Bandits Destroy Railroad, 1904
IHL Cat. #1224*
Russo-Japanese War: Great Japan Red Cross Battlefield Hospital Treating Injured, April 1904
IHL Cat. #1676*
The Port Arthur Surrender,
February 1905
IHL Cat. #1469*