, better known to his contemporaries as , was a Japanese painter and printmaker who was widely regarded as a prolific woodblock artist during the Meiji epoch.
Chikanobu signed his artwork . This was his . The artist's was ; and it was published in his obituary.
Many of his earliest works were signed ; a small number of his early creations were simply signed . At least one triptych from 12 Meiji (1879) exists signed .
The portrait of the Emperor Meiji held by the British Museum is inscribed .
No works have surfaced that are signed either "Toyohara Chikanobu" or "Hashimoto Chikanobu".
Chikanobu was a retainer of the Sakakibara clan of Takada Domain in Echigo Province. After the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shà Âgitai and fought in the Battle of Ueno.
He joined Tokugawa loyalists in Hakodate, Hokkaidà Â, where he fought in the Battle of Hakodate at the Goryà Âkaku star fort. He served under the leadership of Enomoto Takeaki and à Âtori Keisuke; and he achieved fame for his bravery.
Following the Shà Âgitai's surrender, he was remanded along with others to the authorities in the Takada domain.
In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist. He travelled to Tokyo. He found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun. In addition, he produced nishiki-e artworks. In his younger days, he had studied the Kanà  school of painting; but his interest was drawn to ukiyo-e. He studied with a disciple of Keisai Eisen and then he joined the school of Ichiyà «sai Kuniyoshi; during this period, he called himself Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi's death, he studied with Kunisada. He also referred to himself as Yà Âshà «.
Like many ukiyo-e artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects. His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions. As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well known for his impressions of the mie (mise en scène) of kabuki productions. Chikanobu was known as a master of bijinga (images of beautiful women), and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing. His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time. For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keià  era, 1865âÂÂ1867. His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity, the artistic chaos of the Meiji period exemplifying the concept of "furumekashii/imamekashii".
Chikanobu is a recognizable Meiji period artist, but his subjects were sometimes drawn from earlier historical eras. For example, one print illustrates an incident during the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake. The early Meiji period was marked by clashes between disputing samurai forces with differing views about ending Japan's self-imposed isolation and about the changing relationship between the Imperial court and the Tokugawa shogunate. He created a range of impressions and scenes of the Satsuma Rebellion and Saigà  Takamori. Some of these prints illustrated the period of domestic unrest and other subjects of topical interest, including prints like the 1882 image of the Imo Incident, also known as the at right.
The greatest number of Chikanobu's appeared in triptych format. These works documented the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894âÂÂ1895. For example, the "Victory at Asan" was published with a contemporaneous account of the July 29, 1894 battle.
Among those influenced by Chikanobu were and .
Examples of include:
Examples of scenes from this war include:
Examples of scenes from this war include:
Examples of scenes from this war include:
Examples of scenes from this war include:
Examples of include:
Examples of include:
Examples of include: Recent (Meiji era) history
Ancient history
Examples of include:
Examples of include:
Examples of include:
Examples of include:
Others:
Examples of include:
Examples of include:
Examples of Emperor Meiji relaxing include:
Examples of include:
Examples of this genre include:
Like the majority of his contemporaries, he worked mostly in the à Âban tate-e format. There are quite a number of single panel series, as well as many other prints in this format which are not a part of any series.
He produced several series in the à Âban yoko-e format, which were usually then folded cross-wise to produce an album.
Although he is, perhaps, best known for his triptychs, single topics and series, two diptych series are known as well. There are, at least, three polyptych prints known.
His signature may also be found in the line drawings and illustrations in a number of ehon (çµµæ¬), which were mostly of a historical nature. In addition, there are fan prints uchiwa-e (å£æÂÂçµµ), as well as number of sheets of sugoroku (ãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂ) with his signature that still exist and at least three prints in the kakemono-e format were produced in his latter years.
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Hashimoto Toyohara, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 300+ works in 300+ publications in 2 languages and 700+ library holdings