title: Shini-e
text: # Shini-e
  
  Shini-e (死絵, "Memorial prints"), also called "death pictures" or "death portraits", are Japanese woodblock prints, particularly those done in the ukiyo-e style popular through the Edo period (1603–1867) and into the beginnings of the 20th century.
  
  When a kabuki actor died, memorial portraits shini-e were conventionally published with his farewell poem and posthumous name.
  
  Memorial portraits were created by ukiyo-e artists to honor a colleague or former teacher who had died.
  
  ## Gallery
  
  * Hiroshige by Kunisada, 1858
  * Kunisada by Toyohara Kunichika, 1864
  * Iwai Hanshirō VIII, by Toyohara Chikanobu 1882
  