Shunbaisai Hokuei who is also known as Shunkō III, was a designer of ukiyo-e

Ukiyo-e

' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...

 style Japanese woodblock prints

Woodblock printing in Japan

Woodblock printing in Japan is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e artistic genre; however, it was also used very widely for printing books in the same period. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was only...

 in Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 who was active from about 1824 to 1837. He was a student of Shunkōsai Hokushū

Shunkosai Hokushu

Shunkōsai Hokushū , who is also known as Shunkō IV, was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints in Osaka who was active from about 1802 to 1832....

. Hokuei’s prints most often portray the kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

 actor Arashi Rikan II, and the quality of these designs and printing is remarkable. Hokuei died in 1837.

Shunbaisai Hokuei should not be confused with Tōkōen Hokuei (桃幸園 北英), an early 19th century Edo (Tokyo) printmaker who is also commonly referred to as “Hokuei”.