Torii Kiyomasu II
Who was Torii Kiyomasu II?
Japanese artist (1706-1763)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Torii Kiyomasu II (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Torii Kiyomasu II (鳥居 清倍; c. 1706–1763) was a Japanese ukiyo-e painter and woodblock printmaker active in the mid-Edo period. He was part of the well-known Torii school, which was famous for creating billboards, signboards, and promotional images for the kabuki theaters of Edo, now known as Tokyo. Like those before him in the school, Kiyomasu II focused much of his work on promoting kabuki, which was a key part of the entertainment scene at the time.
The exact identity of Kiyomasu II is a topic of scholarly debate. His connection to the original Torii Kiyomasu, who worked several decades earlier, hasn't been clearly established. Some researchers think they might have been close relatives, perhaps father and son or uncle and nephew. Others suggest a master-and-student relationship, while a few consider that both names might belong to the same person over a long career. This kind of confusion is common in Japanese artistic traditions, where names were often passed down or shared among related artists.
Kiyomasu II's prints used techniques typical for his time. He worked a lot with urushi-e, a method where ink mixed with glue or lacquer gave prints a shiny look, and with benizuri-e, a two-color method with rose or pink and green shades. It was common then for printmakers to create outlines in monochrome or a simple palette, with extra colors added by hand later. These were typical of the period before fully multicolored nishiki-e printing began in the 1760s.
Opinions about Kiyomasu II's work have been mixed. Art historian Richard Lane noted that much of his work is "quite stereotyped, lacking in vitality or creativity," a critique he also made of Torii Kiyonobu II. However, Lane did say that about a quarter of their prints show "rare grace and charm," rising above their usual styles. This view places Kiyomasu II within the broader context of the Torii school when it started facing competition from other ukiyo-e artists and schools.
Before Fame
Not much is known about Torii Kiyomasu II's early life. Born around 1706 in Edo, he grew up in a city that had become Japan's political and cultural hub under Tokugawa shogunate rule. The Torii school, where he was trained, was established in the late 1600s and had almost exclusively been producing illustrated programs, posters, and ads for kabuki theaters in Edo. Training in this school was intense and craft-focused, aimed at mastering the unique Torii style of portraying actors and theater scenes.
Artists in established schools like the Torii usually gained recognition through apprenticeship and by gradually adopting a school or family name. Kiyomasu II would have spent years working under senior school members before being given his professional name and starting to take on independent commissions. His rise as a recognized artist happened during a lively time for Edo's popular culture, when the demand for ukiyo-e prints and kabuki-related art was steadily growing among the city's merchants and artisans.
Key Achievements
- Produced a substantial body of woodblock prints and paintings within the Torii school tradition during the mid-Edo period
- Contributed to the kabuki theatre promotional art tradition through billboards, signage, and actor prints
- Worked across multiple print techniques including urushi-e and benizuri-e, representing the technical standards of his era
- Achieved recognition as a named Torii school artist, a distinction requiring mastery of the school's highly specialized visual conventions
- Created works that, at their best, were described by scholars as displaying rare grace and charm within the ukiyo-e tradition
Did You Know?
- 01.Scholars have never definitively determined whether Torii Kiyomasu II was a separate person from the original Torii Kiyomasu, leaving open the possibility that they were one and the same artist.
- 02.Many of his prints were produced using urushi-e, a technique that used glue-mixed ink to create a lacquer-like sheen on the printed surface, giving the images a tactile visual quality.
- 03.Critic Richard Lane estimated that only about one quarter of Kiyomasu II's prints rise above formulaic execution to display genuine artistic quality.
- 04.Kiyomasu II worked during the era of benizuri-e printing, a two-color method using rose and green tones that preceded the development of full-color polychrome printing in Japan.
- 05.As a member of the Torii school, Kiyomasu II was part of a lineage that functioned almost as an official artistic supplier to Edo's kabuki theatre industry, producing billboards and promotional materials as a core part of their work.