安房国の保田（今の千葉県鋸南町）で、縫箔（ししゅう）職人の家に生まれました。江戸に出て、本の挿絵を描くうちに、絵だけを一枚の版画として楽しむ形を広めます。町の人々の暮らしや流行を描いたその絵は「浮世絵」とよばれ、師宣は「浮世絵の祖」と言われます。肉筆画の《見返り美人図》は東京国立博物館にあります。
Moronobu was born in Hota, Awa Province (now Kyonan, Chiba), into a family of embroiderers. In Edo, he drew pictures for books and helped make single-sheet prints popular as art on their own. His pictures of city life and fashion were called ukiyo-e, and he is known as the founder of ukiyo-e. His painting Beauty Looking Back is in the Tokyo National Museum.
