Utagawa Kuniyoshi was an Utagawa school ukiyo-e artist of the early 19th century, known especially for his musha-e, depictions of famous historical or legendary warriors.
Kuniyoshi got in trouble with the authorities in 1843, when they accused that his print depicting Minamoto no Raikô and the Earth Spider, a traditional theme, was a veiled reference to the current Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, and his controversial chief minister Mizuno Tadakuni. The authorities alleged that Raikô himself represented the shogun, the Shitennô (Four Deva Kings) the chief ministers, and the demon hordes the peasantry rioting against the shogunate's draconian policies and harsh taxes. Some accounts indicate that Kuniyoshi escaped the incident without punishment, while others suggest that the woodblocks used to make that set of prints were destroyed, and that Kuniyoshi was forced to pay a fine.[1]
References
- ↑ Peter Duus, "The Marumaru Chinbun and the Origins of the Japanese Political Cartoon," International Journal of Comic Art 1 (1999), 44.