Toyohara Chikanobu
, better known to his contemporaries as , was a Japanese painter and printmaker who was widely regarded as a prolific woodblock artist during the Meiji epoch. Names Chikanobu signed his artwork . This was his . The artist's was ; and it was published in his obituary. Many of his earliest works were signed ; a small number of his early creations were simply signed . At least one triptych from 12 Meiji (1879) exists signed . The portrait of the Emperor Meiji held by the British Museum is inscribed . No works have surfaced that are signed either "Toyohara Chikanobu" or "Hashimoto Chikanobu". Military career Chikanobu was a retainer of the Sakakibara clan of Takada Domain in Echigo Province. After the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai and fought in the Battle of Ueno. He joined Tokugawa loyalists in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, where he fought in the Battle of Hakodate at the Goryōkaku star fort. He served under the leadership of Enomoto Takeaki and Ōtori Keisuke; and he achieved fame for his bravery. Following the Shōgitai's surrender, he was remanded along with others to the authorities in the Takada domain. Artistic career In 1875 (Meiji 8),