Hishikawa Moronobu (1618? - 1694)

Ukiyo-e painter at the former part of the Edo period.
Moronobu established Ukiyo-e (genre painting) style initially.

Moronobu was born in Yasuda-Hongo of Awa Province (Now Kyonan Town of Chiba Prefecture) as a son of Hohaku-shi (=job name. a kind of stitcher).
The job of his father was to depict designs on Kimono by sewing.
Moronobu sometimes called himself "Kichibei".
Aroud 1659, he went to Edo and studied painting styles of the Kano, Tosa and Hasegawa schools.
He was earning a living on Hohaku job at the moment, however, he switched to a painter as he was so good at painting.
He cultivated his skill by painting book illustrations, then he developed his personality in the field of genre painting.
Moronobu's paintings catched on because his style was unconstrained and clear.
He advanced Ukiyo-e to artifact even though it was just illustration before his time.
There were many pupils such as Hishikawa Morofusa, Moronaga, Moroyoshi (Moronobu's sons), Tomofusa, Morohira, Morohide and others, and they were producing Ukiyo-e paintings in the studio.