Yoshimune 2 Utagawa (1863-1941)

A print bearing the title reference to Yoshimune 2 Utagawa (1863-1941), this work points to the complex naming conventions of the Utagawa school, one of the most prolific artistic lineages in Japanese printmaking history. The designation "Yoshimune 2" indicates succession within the school, where names were passed from master to student as marks of artistic legitimacy. The Utagawa school produced some of the most recognized names in ukiyo-e — Kuniyoshi, Kunisada, Hiroshige — and the name Yoshimune carried its own lineage within this larger tradition. The date range 1863-1941 provides biographical framing, placing this artist's life from the final years of the Edo period through the early decades of the Showa era, a span encompassing profound transformations in Japanese society and art.