Mizuno Toshikata – Part 2: Finding his niche
The second part of an eight-part series on the life and work of Mizuno Toshikata, an ukiyo-e artist and nihon-ga painter active during the turbulent Meiji period.
Recap: In the first part we looked at Mizuno Toshikata’s childhood and his apprenticeship with Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, one of the best-regarded ukiyo-e artists of the day. When Toshikata turned 19, he published his first woodblock print bearing his own signature, “Mizuno Toshikata,” marking his debut as an artist.
If you are just joining us, you can read more about his formative years here:
Finally, after five years of hard study, Toshikata achieved his dream to become a print artist. However, the Meiji Restoration's political reforms, which began in 1868, were dramatically reshaping the world Toshikata was born into, presenting him with new challenges in making a living as a print artist.
Finding his niche
Mizuno Toshikata was part of a generation that started their careers as woodblock print artists at an unfortunate time. As discussed in the first part, he was born into a period when ukiyo-e was declining in popularity, and traditional woodblock printing was being replaced by letterpress and lithography techniques.
But these modernizations of the Meiji era also heralded the rise of new media — like newspapers, magazines, and mass-produced novels — and new opportunities for work emerged with them. Toshikata and his teacher managed to venture into the evolving publishing industry by creating illustrations for books, seizing new avenues for income.
Drawing on his experience depicting historical themes, Toshikata created illustrations for many works of historical fiction. Through these commissions, he built a reputation for book illustrations.
When the daily newspaper Yamato Shinbun launched in 1886 (Meiji 19), Mizuno Toshikata participated as an illustrator alongside his master. In addition to current events, the paper also carried serialized novels, entertainment, and gossip articles — equivalent to the tabloids of today.
He drew many illustrations for Yamato Shinbun, together with his master Yoshitoshi. In 1887, through the latter’s recommendation, Toshikata joined the newspaper as an illustrator, which offered him a stable income. This marked the start of a prolific career as an independent artist.
End of an era
In 1892, while Toshikata was working at Yamato Shinbun, his longtime teacher passed away. Often considered the last great ukiyo-e master of the Edo period, the death of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi marked the end of an era.
Since Yoshitoshi had named Toshikata as his successor, there was speculation that the student might assume his teacher’s name. But this did not come to fruition, likely because it was uncommon for painters or printmakers to do so (as it was in other professions, such as kabuki acting). Instead, Yoshitoshi passed on his name in the traditional manner of composing a “go” for his student: When the time came for his pupil to make his debut, he took on the final character of his master’s name, “-toshi,” to produce “Toshi-kata.”
As for Toshikata’s family name, it was originally Nonaka. After his father's death, Toshikata decided to change his family name to Mizuno to avoid military conscription. Along with the public schooling initiated by the Meiji government came graver obligations: Many were sent to fight on the expanding borders of the new Japanese Empire, and the prospect of being drafted into action was not everyone’s cup of tea. A calmer front was the recently annexed island of Hokkaido, where hard-working men were sent to harvest the rich natural resources and work in agriculture. Those who developed the northern island were exempt from military service — thus it became popular to buy one’s way into the family register of a qualified person to avoid being drafted. The novelist Natsume Soseki was another famous example who used this trick.
This was the second part of the eight-part newsletter series on the life and work of Mizuno Toshikata.
In the next newsletter, Part 3: Art from the frontlines, we will like to look at his commercially successful sensō-e propaganda prints visualizing the Sino-Japanese War.
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Stefan Yanku adapted this Substack issue from an article he published on The Arts of Japan’s website. For further credits and references, please visit the original article at https://artsofjapan.com/en/profiles/mizuno-toshikata
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Thank you for these informative articles. I had never known of Toshikata before. His drawings are wonderfully detailed.
Many years ago my wife and I saw an exhibition of Yoshitoshi’s work. And the father of a friend had a collection of Yoshitoshi’s drawings which we got to see as well. I can see the influence that Yoshitoshi had on Toshikta’s style. But also how Toshikta went on to further develop himself.
I am looking forward to more about him!