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Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Utagawa Kunimasa (歌川 国政, 1772 - December 26, 1810) was a Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker and student of Utagawa Toyokuni. Originally from Aizu in Iwashiro province, he first worked in a dye shop upon arriving in Edo (the present-day Tokyo). It was there that he was noticed by Toyokuni, to whom he became apprenticed.<br/><br/> Kunimasa is especially known for his yakusha-e prints (portraits of kabuki actors) and for his bijinga pictures of beautiful women. His style is said to strive to 'combine the intensity of Sharaku with the decorative pageantry of his master Toyokuni'. However, those who make the comparison often say he failed to achieve the level of Sharaku's intensity.