Toshikata, Mizuno

Mizuno Toshikata was born on March 6, 1866 as Mizuno Kumejiro in Tokyo. When he was 13 years old, his father sent him to the printmaking school of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. He was also apprenticed to a ceramic painter. Later Toshikata Mizuno was instructed in the traditional art of Japanese painting by Shibata Hoshu and Watanabe Seitei, but unfortunately born at a time during which ukiyo-e was on the decline and before the resurgence during shin hanga.

Mizuno Toshikata did a little bit of everything – war prints, illustrations and nevertheless he managed to continue a career as a serious painter and printmaker. In 1887 he was lucky and could get the job formerly held by Yoshitoshi as an illustrator at Yamato shinbun – a Tokyo newspaper.

Mizuno published several series of bijin prints and genre scenes with women and children. Among his publishers were Sato Shotaro and Akiyama Buemon. After 1900 Mizuno Toshikata was a well-recognized illustrator, painter and printmaker. He became teacher of Kaburagi Kiyokata, Ikeda Shoen and Ikeda Terukata.