Utagawa Toyokuni II (Toyoshige)

Toyokuni (II) was a pupil and the son-in-law of the first Toyokuni. After the death of his father-in-law and teacher in 1828, he assumed the name Toyokuni II, but was challenged in the succession by other followers including Kunisada. As early as 1826, according to Lane, he sgned his works Toyokuni or Kosotei Toyokuni. He changed his name to Toyoshige in later years. His most famous series, Meisho Hakkei, done in the 1830s offers some fine ôban landscapes. His bijin studies are often compositionally bizzare and contorted but not without a certain mannered excitement.