江戸の本所で、幕府の米蔵につとめる役人の家に生まれました。幕末の鳥羽・伏見の戦いにも加わり、幕府がたおれると将軍家とともに静岡へ移ります。1874年に東京へもどって絵の道へ。光と影を生かした新しい版画「光線画」で、汽車やガス灯が登場する文明開化の東京を描きました。のちには風刺画やさし絵でも活躍しています。
Kiyochika was born in Honjo, Edo, into a family of shogunate officials who worked at the government rice warehouses. He fought in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi at the end of the Edo period. When the shogunate fell, he moved to Shizuoka with the Tokugawa family. In 1874 he returned to Tokyo and became an artist. With his new 'light-ray prints,' full of light and shadow, he showed modern Tokyo with steam trains and gas lamps. Later he also drew cartoons and illustrations.
