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Torii Kiyonobu I

Ichimura Takenojo and Sanjo Kantaro as a Pair of Lovers in the Yoshiwara

early 1720s
hand-colored woodblock print

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

Kiyonobu's prints are usually hand-colored and outlined in black. They often depict actors and scenes from plays. Kiyonobu's was largely responsible for introducing theater prints as commercial products. He is regarded as the founder of the Torii school, which with its close relationship to the theater, dominated printmaking for 75 years until the appearance of Shunsho in the late 1700s.

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