The Japanese government policy that restricted ukiyo-e in the 1790s was the Kansei Reforms.
The reforms were introduced under Matsudaira Sadanobu during the reign of the Tokugawa shogun Tokugawa Ienari. They sought moral, social, and financial discipline and affected publishing as well as other areas of urban life. Censors scrutinized printed material, and publishers faced restrictions concerning luxury, sexuality, fashion, and representations of contemporary figures.
The policy affected ukiyo-e artists in practical ways. Publishers sometimes avoided naming actors or portrayed them in less direct forms. Kitagawa Utamaro was later punished under a different censorship episode for images connected with the historical ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but his career also unfolded within a heavily regulated publishing environment.
The Kansei Reforms are often confused with the Tenpō Reforms of the 1840s, another Tokugawa campaign that imposed restrictions on popular culture. They were separate reform programs in different decades.