Miyagawa Shuntei

Miyagawa Shuntei (宮川春汀, 1873-1914) was a Japanese woodblock-print artist and illustrator of the Meiji period, best known for his designs of beautiful women (bijin-ga) and of children (kodomo-e).

Born in Aichi prefecture, Shuntei spent most of his life in Tokyo. He trained first under the Nanga painter Watanabe Shōka and then under the bijin-ga specialist Tomioka Eisen, from whom he absorbed the refined figure style that characterizes his mature work — subtle color gradations, delicate embossing, and lyrical, intimate compositions of women, children, and scenes of everyday life. Beyond single-sheet prints he was a prolific designer for book and newspaper illustration, one of many print artists who found steady work in the expanding publishing world of late Meiji Tokyo.

Among his best-known series is Ukiyo no Hana (Flowers of the Floating World), which sets graceful figures against seasonal backgrounds. His prints are held in museum, gallery, and private collections and are documented in reference works on Meiji-period Japanese prints, where he is remembered as an accomplished chronicler of the manners and pastimes of his day.