# Kuniyoshi artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/kuniyoshi/
Profile generated: 2026-08-18T18:47:04.026Z
Quality: medium confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Japanese
- Movements: Ukiyo-e, Utagawa school
- Common media: Woodblock prints, Illustration, Drawings, Painting

## Portrait

![Kuniyoshi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Utagawa-Kuniyoshi%2C_Self-Portrait%2C_Shunga_album%2C_1839.jpg/1280px-Utagawa-Kuniyoshi%2C_Self-Portrait%2C_Shunga_album%2C_1839.jpg)
Utagawa Kuniyoshi · Public domain
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utagawa-Kuniyoshi,_Self-Portrait,_Shunga_album,_1839.jpg

## About Kuniyoshi

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861), often catalogued simply as Kuniyoshi, was a Japanese artist associated with ukiyo-e. Library authorities record several art names, including Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi and Chōōrō Kuniyoshi, while the BnF identifies Igusa Yoshisaburō as his personal name and Utagawa Toyokuni as his teacher. Kuniyoshi worked chiefly in woodblock printmaking and illustration; collected records also document paintings and drawings. He is identified with the Utagawa school. Collectors therefore encounter his name across individual prints, works on paper, illustrated material, drawings, and paintings rather than in a single format. Because catalogues may use different romanizations, art names, or the shortened name Kuniyoshi, reliable entity matching depends on the signature or inscription, stated attribution, medium, and catalogue context. These distinctions are especially important when comparing auction records or identifying a work offered under an abbreviated artist name.

## Common works and media

Kuniyoshi is most commonly encountered through woodblock prints and other works on paper, including illustrated material. Drawings and paintings are also documented in the collected institutional and authority records. For prints, useful catalogue details can include format and dimensions, signature or inscription, edition information, condition, restoration, provenance, and attribution. Because the artist used several names, cataloguers may list works under Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi, Chōōrō Kuniyoshi, or simply Kuniyoshi.

## Market and appraisal context

A Kuniyoshi appraisal should begin by confirming that the work is correctly attributed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi and by identifying its medium, date, dimensions, and format. For prints, inscriptions, signatures, edition information, condition, restoration, and surface quality can affect comparison with recorded lots. Provenance, exhibition history, catalogue references, subject matter, rarity, and recent sales of genuinely comparable works may also matter. The collected Appraisily page contains public auction matches, but its summary and detailed record counts are internally inconsistent, so no price statistic from that snapshot should be treated as definitive. Public results are reference points rather than a substitute for inspection, authentication, and work-specific research.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research with matched public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Attribution changes, private sales, and incomplete auction feeds may not be represented.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q317736
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/32791569/
- Bibliothèque nationale de France: https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb13177856q
- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/059222859
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utagawa_Kuniyoshi
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/kuniyoshi/
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utagawa-Kuniyoshi,_Self-Portrait,_Shunga_album,_1839.jpg