Utagawa Kuniyoshi , ca.1797 - April 14, 1861) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting and belonged to the Utagawa school. . Between 1815-1817 he created a number of book illustrations for yomihon, kokkeibon, gokan and hanashibon, and printed his stand-alone full color prints of "kabuki" actors and warriors.

Have you ever wondered why Japanese prints of actors portray the actor with his eyes crossed. We were curious so traced the reason down. The mie pose ( mie, pronounced 'mee-eh'), a powerful and emotional pose struck by an actor, who then freezes for a moment, is a distinctive element of aragoto Kabuki performance. Mie means 'appearance' or 'visible' in Japanese, and one of the primary purposes of this convention is to draw attention to a particularly important or powerful portion of the performance. It is meant to show a character's emotions at their peak, and can often be a very powerful pose. The actor's eyes are opened as wide as possible; if the character is meant to seem agitated or angry, the actor will cross his eyes. In Japanese, the mie pose is said to be "cut" by the actor.