Japan: 'Ichikawa Ebizo IV as Takemura Sadanojo in the Play Koinyobo Somewake'. Woodblock print by Toshusai Sharaku (active 1794-1795), 1794. Toshusai Sharaku is widely considered to be one of the great masters of woodblock printing in Japan. Little is known of him, besides his ukiyo-e prints; neither his true name nor the dates of his birth or death are known with any certainty. His active career as a woodblock artist seems to have spanned just ten months in the mid-Edo period of Japanese history, from the middle of 1794 to early 1795.