Torii Kiyohiro

Japanese

Specialized in benizuri-e actor and beauty prints

Torii Kiyohiro was a Japanese artist of the Torii school of ukiyo-e. Kiyohiro's date of birth is unknown, while Ukiyo-e Ruikō lists his death date as 1776. No other evidence of those dates are known. Kiyohiro's personal name was Shichinosuke (七之助). He lived in the Sakaimachi area of Edo (modern Tokyo) and was registered as a student of Torii Kiyomasu I and likely studied under Torii Kiyonobu II or Torii Kiyomasu II. Ernest Fenollosa considered him "of almost equal ability with" his contemporary Torii Kiyomitsu, and speculated they may have been brothers. Kiyohiro's first known work appeared about 1751, and the last about 1764. All of his known works are benizuri-e, and though the Torii school was known for its yakusha-e actor prints, Kiyohiro also specialized in bijin-ga prints of female beauties extending into some with erotic themes. He specialized in designing prints in the ōban size. Two of his major sponsors/printers were Sakai-ya of Hongoku-chō, and Hōsendō of Tōri Abura-chō, both in the close neighborhood of Ichimura and Nakamura kabuki theaters.