Torii Kiyomasu II

Who They Were

Torii Kiyomasu II (二代目 鳥居清倍, nidaime Torii Kiyomasu) was a Japanese painter and woodblock printmaker active in the Edo period (1603–1868). He was born in 1706 in Tokyo and died in 1763. His working years are often given as roughly 1720 to 1750, though the precise span is not firmly documented.

Kiyomasu II belonged to the Torii school, a lineage of artists who specialised in billboards and other visual materials promoting kabuki theatre. Like his fellow Torii painters, he produced images of actors, stage scenes, and theatrical advertisements. His official occupation is recorded as graphic artist, painter, ukiyo-e artist, and xylographer — that is, a woodblock carver and printer.

Scholars have not established Kiyomasu II's exact relationship to the earlier Torii Kiyomasu, who worked a few decades before. The two may have been close relatives, or master and student, or possibly the same man using the name at different stages. The uncertainty is a recognised gap in the historical record.

Life and Career

Kiyomasu II was born in Tokyo in 1706, during the third year of the Hōei era (宝永). He worked in Tokyo throughout his life, producing prints and paintings for the kabuki world. The Torii school had built its reputation on theatrical imagery, and Kiyomasu II continued that tradition.

His prints were made using the technical methods common to the period. Many employed urushi-e (lacquer print), a technique in which thick ink or lacquer was used for outlines, sometimes mixed with pigment to create a glossy effect. Others used benizuri-e (rose print), a method of colour printing that relied on a limited palette, typically rose pink and green. In many of his prints, the linework was printed in monochrome or a small number of colours, and the remaining areas were coloured by hand after printing.

The art historian Richard Lane offered a mixed assessment of Kiyomasu II's output. Lane wrote that the majority of his work is "quite stereotyped, lacking in vitality or fertility of invention." He applied the same judgement to the prints of Torii Kiyonobu II. However, Lane added that in perhaps a quarter of their prints, both artists "manage to rise above the confines of their own limited talents and produce work of rare grace and charm."

Why They Matter

Kiyomasu II matters because he represents the continuation of the Torii school's central role in Edo visual culture. The Torii artists were not merely printmakers; they were the designated image-makers for the kabuki theatres, and their billboards and actor portraits shaped how audiences saw the stage. Kiyomasu II's work sits within that commercial and artistic system.

His prints also illustrate a transitional moment in ukiyo-e technique. The shift from hand-coloured prints to multi-block colour printing was underway during his career, and methods like urushi-e and benizuri-e were steps toward the full-colour nishiki-e that would define later generations. Kiyomasu II's practice shows how artists of his time worked within the limits of available technology while still producing images of theatrical glamour.

The scholarly uncertainty about his identity adds to his historical interest. Because the relationship between Kiyomasu I and Kiyomasu II is unresolved, attributions of unsigned works remain difficult. That ambiguity makes Kiyomasu II a case study in how ukiyo-e history is pieced together from style, signature, and circumstantial evidence.

The Name in Japanese

The full name is 二代目 鳥居清倍.

The kana reading is とりい きよます にだいめ. In romaji, it is Torii Kiyomasu Nidaime.

The name breaks down as follows:

• 二 (に, ni) — meaning "two". This is the numeral two.
• 代 (だい, dai) — meaning "generation" or "succession". Combined with 二, it forms 二代 (にだい, nidai), meaning "second generation".
• 目 (め, me) — meaning "ordinal suffix". When attached to a number, it marks order, so 二代目 (nidaime) means "the second generation" or "the second in line".
• 鳥 (とり, tori) — meaning "bird". This is the family name Torii, written with the character for bird.
• 居 (い, i) — meaning "to be" or "to exist". In the name Torii, it is read i and contributes to the family name.
• 清 (きよ, kiyo) — meaning "clear" or "pure". This is the first character of the given name Kiyomasu.
• 倍 (ます, masu) — meaning "to increase" or "to multiply". In this name it is read masu, completing the given name Kiyomasu.

The full name in Japanese order is 二代目 鳥居清倍, with the generational marker 二代目 placed before the family name. In English, the name is usually written Torii Kiyomasu II, with the Roman numeral standing in for the Japanese generational marker.

Legacy

Kiyomasu II's legacy is tied to the endurance of the Torii school as an institution. The school continued to produce kabuki imagery for generations, and its name remains associated with theatrical printmaking in Edo. Kiyomasu II was one of the figures who carried that tradition through the middle decades of the eighteenth century.

His prints survive in museum and private collections, and they are studied as examples of early eighteenth-century ukiyo-e technique. The urushi-e and benizuri-e methods he used are recognised as important stages in the development of Japanese colour printing.

The unresolved question of his identity has kept his name alive in scholarly debate. Whether he was a relative, a student, or the same person as the first Kiyomasu, his work forms part of the record of a school that shaped the visual language of kabuki. Lane's judgement — that a quarter of his prints achieve "rare grace and charm" — remains the standard reference point for evaluating his art.