, real name Sano Toyofusa, was a scholar, kyà Âka poet, and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore.
Born to a family of high-ranking servants to the Tokugawa shogunate, Toriyama was trained by Kanà  school artists Kanà  Gyokuen and Kanà  Chikanobu, although he was never officially recognized as a Kanà  school painter.
After retiring from service to the shogunate, Toriyama became a teacher to numerous apprentices in poetry and painting. He was among the first to apply Kanà  techniques to ukiyo-e printmaking, inventing key new techniques along the way, such as fuki-bokashi, which allowed for replicating color gradations. Most famously, he was the teacher of Kitagawa Utamaro and Utagawa Toyoharu.
Sekien is best known for his mass-produced illustrated books of yà Âkai that had appeared in Hyakki Yagyà  monster parade scrolls. The first book proved popular enough to spawn three sequels, the last of which features yà Âkai mainly out of Sekien's imagination. Although sometimes described as a "demonologist," his work is better described as a literary parody of encyclopedias such as the Japanese Wakan Sansai Zue or the Chinese Classic of Mountains and Seas, which were popular in Japan at the time. His portrayals of these creatures from folklore essentially established their visual portrayals in the public's mind and deeply inspired other Japanese artists in his own and later eras, including ukiyo-e artists Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kawanabe Kyà Âsai, and manga artist Mizuki Shigeru.