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oban tate-e Birth date is listed as 1750, 1753, 1754 Various accounts claim that he was born in either Edo (present-day Tokyo), Kyoto, or Osaka (the three main cities of Japan), or a provincial town (no one is sure exactly which one) in around 1753; the exact date is also uncertain. Another long-standing tradition has is that he was born in Yoshiwara, the courtesan district of Edo, the son of a tea-house owner, but there is no evidence of this. His original name was Kitagawa Ichitaro. Kitagawa Utamaro is highly appreciated as the dominating ukiyo-e artist of the late eighteenth century. Yet little is known about his life. Neither the precise date of Utamaro's birth, his birthplace, nor any substantial information about his parents are known. The original name of Utamaro is Ichitaro Kitagawa. It is generally agreed that he started his career as a pupil of the painter Toriyama Sekien. His early known works are actor portraits and theater programs, published under the name of Utagawa Toyoaki. In 1781/82 he changed his name to Kitagawa Utamaro. Around 1783 Utamaro started a successful cooperation with the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo. Together they published several book illustrations. The early works of Utamaro were influenced by Torii Kiyonaga and Harunobu.