The Tenpō Reforms of 1841–1843 sought to suppress outward displays of luxury, including the depiction of courtesans and actors.
As a result, many ukiyo-e artists designed travel scenes and pictures of nature, especially birds and flowers.
 Landscapes had been given limited attention since Moronobu, and they formed an important element in the works of Kiyonaga and Shunchō.
 It was not until late in the Edo period that landscape came into its own as a genre, especially via the works of Hokusai and Hiroshige.
 The landscape genre has come to dominate Western perceptions of ukiyo-e, though ukiyo-e had a long history preceding these late-era masters.
 The Japanese landscape differed from the Western tradition in that it relied more heavily on imagination, composition, and atmosphere than on strict observance of nature.

The self-proclaimed "mad painter" Hokusai (1760–1849) enjoyed a long, varied career.
 His work is marked by a lack of the sentimentality common to ukiyo-e, and a focus on formalism influenced by Western art.
 Among his accomplishments are his illustrations of Takizawa Bakin's novel Crescent Moon, his series of sketchbooks, the Hokusai Manga, and his popularization of the landscape genre with Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes his best-known print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
one of the most famous works of Japanese art.
 In contrast to the work of the older masters, Hokusai's colours were bold, flat, and abstract, and his subject was not the pleasure districts but the lives and environment of the common people at work.
 Established masters Eisen, Kuniyoshi, and Kunisada also followed Hokusai's steps into landscape prints in the 1830s, producing prints with bold compositions and striking effects.

Though not often given the attention of their better-known forebears, the Utagawa school produced a few masters in this declining period.
 The prolific Kunisada (1786–1865) had few rivals in the tradition of making portrait prints of courtesans and actors.
 One of those rivals was Eisen (1790–1848), who was also adept at landscapes.
 Perhaps the last significant member of this late period, Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) tried his hand at a variety of themes and styles, much as Hokusai had.
 His historical scenes of warriors in violent combat were popular, especially his series of heroes from the Suikoden (1827–1830) and Chūshingura (1847).
He was adept at landscapes and satirical scenes—the latter an area rarely explored in the dictatorial atmosphere of the Edo period; that Kuniyoshia could dare tackle such subjects was a sign of the weakening of the shogunate at the time.

Hiroshige (1797–1858) is considered Hokusai's greatest rival in stature.
 He specialized in pictures of birds and flowers, and serene landscapes, and is best known for his travel series, such as The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, the latter a cooperative effort with Eisen.
 His work was more realistic, subtly coloured, and atmospheric than Hokusai's; nature and the seasons were key elements: mist, rain, snow, and moonlight were prominent parts of his compositions.
 Hiroshige's followers, including adopted son Hiroshige II and son-in-law Hiroshige III, carried on their master's style of landscapes into the Meiji era.
The Tenpō Reforms of 1841–1843 sought to suppress outward displays of luxury, including the depiction of courtesans and actors. As a result, many ukiyo-e artists designed travel scenes and pictures of nature, especially birds and flowers.  Landscapes had been given limited attention since Moronobu, and they formed an important element in the works of Kiyonaga and Shunchō.  It was not until late in the Edo period that landscape came into its own as a genre, especially via the works of Hokusai and Hiroshige.  The landscape genre has come to dominate Western perceptions of ukiyo-e, though ukiyo-e had a long history preceding these late-era masters.  The Japanese landscape differed from the Western tradition in that it relied more heavily on imagination, composition, and atmosphere than on strict observance of nature.
The self-proclaimed "mad painter" Hokusai (1760–1849) enjoyed a long, varied career.  His work is marked by a lack of the sentimentality common to ukiyo-e, and a focus on formalism influenced by Western art.  Among his accomplishments are his illustrations of Takizawa Bakin's novel Crescent Moon, his series of sketchbooks, the Hokusai Manga, and his popularization of the landscape genre with Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes his best-known print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. one of the most famous works of Japanese art.  In contrast to the work of the older masters, Hokusai's colours were bold, flat, and abstract, and his subject was not the pleasure districts but the lives and environment of the common people at work.  Established masters Eisen, Kuniyoshi, and Kunisada also followed Hokusai's steps into landscape prints in the 1830s, producing prints with bold compositions and striking effects.
Though not often given the attention of their better-known forebears, the Utagawa school produced a few masters in this declining period.  The prolific Kunisada (1786–1865) had few rivals in the tradition of making portrait prints of courtesans and actors.  One of those rivals was Eisen (1790–1848), who was also adept at landscapes.  Perhaps the last significant member of this late period, Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) tried his hand at a variety of themes and styles, much as Hokusai had.  His historical scenes of warriors in violent combat were popular, especially his series of heroes from the Suikoden (1827–1830) and Chūshingura (1847). He was adept at landscapes and satirical scenes—the latter an area rarely explored in the dictatorial atmosphere of the Edo period; that Kuniyoshia could dare tackle such subjects was a sign of the weakening of the shogunate at the time.
Hiroshige (1797–1858) is considered Hokusai's greatest rival in stature.  He specialized in pictures of birds and flowers, and serene landscapes, and is best known for his travel series, such as The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, the latter a cooperative effort with Eisen.  His work was more realistic, subtly coloured, and atmospheric than Hokusai's; nature and the seasons were key elements: mist, rain, snow, and moonlight were prominent parts of his compositions.  Hiroshige's followers, including adopted son Hiroshige II and son-in-law Hiroshige III, carried on their master's style of landscapes into the Meiji era.
Ukiyo-e