diff --git a/demos/file_upload/file_uploader.py b/demos/file_upload/file_uploader.py
index 9f1f84d516..179eb248e7 100755
--- a/demos/file_upload/file_uploader.py
+++ b/demos/file_upload/file_uploader.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 See also file_receiver.py in this directory, a server that receives uploads.
 """
 
-from __future__ import print_function
 import mimetypes
 import os
 import sys
diff --git a/demos/tcpecho/client.py b/demos/tcpecho/client.py
index 51d3a8d5f2..a2ead08bc8 100755
--- a/demos/tcpecho/client.py
+++ b/demos/tcpecho/client.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-from __future__ import print_function
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
 from tornado import gen
 from tornado.tcpclient import TCPClient
diff --git a/maint/circlerefs/circlerefs.py b/maint/circlerefs/circlerefs.py
index 5cc4e1f6de..bd8214aa82 100755
--- a/maint/circlerefs/circlerefs.py
+++ b/maint/circlerefs/circlerefs.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 increases memory footprint and CPU overhead, so we try to eliminate
 circular references created by normal operation.
 """
-from __future__ import print_function
 
 import gc
 import traceback
diff --git a/maint/scripts/test_resolvers.py b/maint/scripts/test_resolvers.py
index 2a466c1ac9..82dec30e66 100755
--- a/maint/scripts/test_resolvers.py
+++ b/maint/scripts/test_resolvers.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import pprint
 import socket
 
diff --git a/maint/vm/windows/bootstrap.py b/maint/vm/windows/bootstrap.py
index 281bf573cf..9bfb5c7230 100755
--- a/maint/vm/windows/bootstrap.py
+++ b/maint/vm/windows/bootstrap.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 To run under cygwin (which must be installed separately), run
   cd /cygdrive/e; python -m tornado.test.runtests
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import os
 import subprocess
diff --git a/tornado/__init__.py b/tornado/__init__.py
index ae8fd99878..e6c4505930 100644
--- a/tornado/__init__.py
+++ b/tornado/__init__.py
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 
 """The Tornado web server and tools."""
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 # version is a human-readable version number.
 
 # version_info is a four-tuple for programmatic comparison. The first
diff --git a/tornado/_locale_data.py b/tornado/_locale_data.py
index a2c503907d..91416d9b45 100644
--- a/tornado/_locale_data.py
+++ b/tornado/_locale_data.py
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
 
 """Data used by the tornado.locale module."""
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 LOCALE_NAMES = {
     "af_ZA": {"name_en": u"Afrikaans", "name": u"Afrikaans"},
     "am_ET": {"name_en": u"Amharic", "name": u"አማርኛ"},
diff --git a/tornado/auth.py b/tornado/auth.py
index a3fd7943c5..35d5ee203f 100644
--- a/tornado/auth.py
+++ b/tornado/auth.py
@@ -56,8 +56,6 @@ async def get(self):
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import base64
 import binascii
 import hashlib
diff --git a/tornado/autoreload.py b/tornado/autoreload.py
index 9c5b2326bc..01951fccf2 100644
--- a/tornado/autoreload.py
+++ b/tornado/autoreload.py
@@ -43,8 +43,6 @@
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import os
 import sys
 
diff --git a/tornado/concurrent.py b/tornado/concurrent.py
index 37d58e8653..7c2679dd2c 100644
--- a/tornado/concurrent.py
+++ b/tornado/concurrent.py
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 implementation, applications rarely need to interact with it
 directly.
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import asyncio
 from concurrent import futures
diff --git a/tornado/curl_httpclient.py b/tornado/curl_httpclient.py
index b412897f6e..13e1f136c9 100644
--- a/tornado/curl_httpclient.py
+++ b/tornado/curl_httpclient.py
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 
 """Non-blocking HTTP client implementation using pycurl."""
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import collections
 import functools
 import logging
diff --git a/tornado/escape.py b/tornado/escape.py
index 6ca81584e0..382133f5b5 100644
--- a/tornado/escape.py
+++ b/tornado/escape.py
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@
 have crept in over time.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import html.entities
 import json
 import re
diff --git a/tornado/gen.py b/tornado/gen.py
index e5ff49832b..982cb8dfc6 100644
--- a/tornado/gen.py
+++ b/tornado/gen.py
@@ -70,8 +70,6 @@ def get(self):
    via ``singledispatch``.
 
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import asyncio
 import builtins
 import collections
diff --git a/tornado/http1connection.py b/tornado/http1connection.py
index fba9cb9bf9..0002f857b5 100644
--- a/tornado/http1connection.py
+++ b/tornado/http1connection.py
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@
 .. versionadded:: 4.0
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import re
 
 from tornado.concurrent import (Future, future_add_done_callback,
diff --git a/tornado/httpclient.py b/tornado/httpclient.py
index 7c2f2568a6..d3a42cd378 100644
--- a/tornado/httpclient.py
+++ b/tornado/httpclient.py
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@
     AsyncHTTPClient.configure("tornado.curl_httpclient.CurlAsyncHTTPClient")
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import functools
 import time
 import weakref
diff --git a/tornado/httpserver.py b/tornado/httpserver.py
index 3498d71fb6..0269b045eb 100644
--- a/tornado/httpserver.py
+++ b/tornado/httpserver.py
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ class except to start a server at the beginning of the process
    to `tornado.httputil.HTTPServerRequest`.  The old name remains as an alias.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import socket
 
 from tornado.escape import native_str
diff --git a/tornado/httputil.py b/tornado/httputil.py
index 48c545ed57..0e498235b0 100644
--- a/tornado/httputil.py
+++ b/tornado/httputil.py
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@
 via `tornado.web.RequestHandler.request`.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import calendar
 import collections
 import copy
diff --git a/tornado/ioloop.py b/tornado/ioloop.py
index 2f9319f7b2..51dbe45401 100644
--- a/tornado/ioloop.py
+++ b/tornado/ioloop.py
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import asyncio
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 import datetime
diff --git a/tornado/iostream.py b/tornado/iostream.py
index da6817349b..ba8284f3f1 100644
--- a/tornado/iostream.py
+++ b/tornado/iostream.py
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@
 * `PipeIOStream`: Pipe-based IOStream implementation.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import collections
 import errno
 import io
diff --git a/tornado/locale.py b/tornado/locale.py
index 2931010ced..9247bcb528 100644
--- a/tornado/locale.py
+++ b/tornado/locale.py
@@ -39,8 +39,6 @@
 the `Locale.translate` method will simply return the original string.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import codecs
 import csv
 import datetime
diff --git a/tornado/locks.py b/tornado/locks.py
index 9566a4573c..15b8f4d870 100644
--- a/tornado/locks.py
+++ b/tornado/locks.py
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import collections
 from concurrent.futures import CancelledError
 
diff --git a/tornado/log.py b/tornado/log.py
index cda905c9ba..c0171ba166 100644
--- a/tornado/log.py
+++ b/tornado/log.py
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
 `logging` module.  For example, you may wish to send ``tornado.access`` logs
 to a separate file for analysis.
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import logging
 import logging.handlers
 import sys
diff --git a/tornado/netutil.py b/tornado/netutil.py
index c7682be3a8..c57f6fd347 100644
--- a/tornado/netutil.py
+++ b/tornado/netutil.py
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 
 """Miscellaneous network utility code."""
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import errno
 import os
 import sys
diff --git a/tornado/options.py b/tornado/options.py
index f3b87199b9..f2d30a6e88 100644
--- a/tornado/options.py
+++ b/tornado/options.py
@@ -93,8 +93,6 @@ def start_server():
    underscores.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import datetime
 import numbers
 import re
diff --git a/tornado/platform/asyncio.py b/tornado/platform/asyncio.py
index 04254bed3e..b139c90029 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/asyncio.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/asyncio.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
    Windows. Use the `~asyncio.SelectorEventLoop` instead.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 import functools
 
 from tornado.gen import convert_yielded
diff --git a/tornado/platform/auto.py b/tornado/platform/auto.py
index 16ee9091a5..6c3100170f 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/auto.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/auto.py
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@
     from tornado.platform.auto import set_close_exec
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import os
 
 if os.name == 'nt':
diff --git a/tornado/platform/caresresolver.py b/tornado/platform/caresresolver.py
index 768cb62499..f1e379b229 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/caresresolver.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/caresresolver.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 import pycares  # type: ignore
 import socket
 
diff --git a/tornado/platform/interface.py b/tornado/platform/interface.py
index c2d54e4ce8..d7a6d76ee4 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/interface.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/interface.py
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@
 implementation from `tornado.platform.auto`.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 
 def set_close_exec(fd):
     """Sets the close-on-exec bit (``FD_CLOEXEC``)for a file descriptor."""
diff --git a/tornado/platform/posix.py b/tornado/platform/posix.py
index c8571e6b09..54327746c6 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/posix.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/posix.py
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 
 """Posix implementations of platform-specific functionality."""
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import fcntl
 import os
 
diff --git a/tornado/platform/twisted.py b/tornado/platform/twisted.py
index a5f41ab6bf..68646b300f 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/twisted.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/twisted.py
@@ -21,8 +21,6 @@
 This module has been tested with Twisted versions 11.0.0 and newer.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import socket
 import sys
 
diff --git a/tornado/platform/windows.py b/tornado/platform/windows.py
index 4127700659..274937f867 100644
--- a/tornado/platform/windows.py
+++ b/tornado/platform/windows.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 # NOTE: win32 support is currently experimental, and not recommended
 # for production use.
 
-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 import ctypes  # type: ignore
 import ctypes.wintypes  # type: ignore
 
diff --git a/tornado/process.py b/tornado/process.py
index 7a5fbaed0b..8f8dd3e074 100644
--- a/tornado/process.py
+++ b/tornado/process.py
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
 the server into multiple processes and managing subprocesses.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import errno
 import os
 import multiprocessing
diff --git a/tornado/queues.py b/tornado/queues.py
index 7cb96bfcc7..bc33384477 100644
--- a/tornado/queues.py
+++ b/tornado/queues.py
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import collections
 import heapq
 
diff --git a/tornado/routing.py b/tornado/routing.py
index e56d1a75f9..8122faf5b9 100644
--- a/tornado/routing.py
+++ b/tornado/routing.py
@@ -175,8 +175,6 @@ def request_callable(request):
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import re
 from functools import partial
 
diff --git a/tornado/simple_httpclient.py b/tornado/simple_httpclient.py
index bf41abbf1d..d0df55271b 100644
--- a/tornado/simple_httpclient.py
+++ b/tornado/simple_httpclient.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado.escape import _unicode
 from tornado import gen
 from tornado.httpclient import HTTPResponse, HTTPError, AsyncHTTPClient, main, _RequestProxy
diff --git a/tornado/tcpclient.py b/tornado/tcpclient.py
index e726f51069..94dcdf1506 100644
--- a/tornado/tcpclient.py
+++ b/tornado/tcpclient.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 
 """A non-blocking TCP connection factory.
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import functools
 import socket
diff --git a/tornado/tcpserver.py b/tornado/tcpserver.py
index 31e16b8df3..038d8223cd 100644
--- a/tornado/tcpserver.py
+++ b/tornado/tcpserver.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # under the License.
 
 """A non-blocking, single-threaded TCP server."""
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import errno
 import os
diff --git a/tornado/template.py b/tornado/template.py
index 382f08f405..ac5dcf8885 100644
--- a/tornado/template.py
+++ b/tornado/template.py
@@ -195,8 +195,6 @@ class (and specifically its ``render`` method) and will not work
     `filter_whitespace` for available options. New in Tornado 4.3.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import datetime
 from io import StringIO
 import linecache
diff --git a/tornado/test/__main__.py b/tornado/test/__main__.py
index c78478cbd3..430c895fa2 100644
--- a/tornado/test/__main__.py
+++ b/tornado/test/__main__.py
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 
 This only works in python 2.7+.
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado.test.runtests import all, main
 
 # tornado.testing.main autodiscovery relies on 'all' being present in
diff --git a/tornado/test/asyncio_test.py b/tornado/test/asyncio_test.py
index 23073090d8..990ecc9064 100644
--- a/tornado/test/asyncio_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/asyncio_test.py
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import asyncio
 import unittest
 
diff --git a/tornado/test/auth_test.py b/tornado/test/auth_test.py
index ee5ee7a7b6..eba46a6d4a 100644
--- a/tornado/test/auth_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/auth_test.py
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
 # and ensure that it doesn't blow up (e.g. with unicode/bytes issues in
 # python 3)
 
-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado.auth import (
     OpenIdMixin, OAuthMixin, OAuth2Mixin,
     GoogleOAuth2Mixin, FacebookGraphMixin, TwitterMixin,
diff --git a/tornado/test/autoreload_test.py b/tornado/test/autoreload_test.py
index bac17fa66d..6c62b3308a 100644
--- a/tornado/test/autoreload_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/autoreload_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 import os
 import shutil
 import subprocess
diff --git a/tornado/test/concurrent_test.py b/tornado/test/concurrent_test.py
index 444529f8c2..9dbccbeee9 100644
--- a/tornado/test/concurrent_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/concurrent_test.py
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 # WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from concurrent import futures
 import logging
 import re
diff --git a/tornado/test/curl_httpclient_test.py b/tornado/test/curl_httpclient_test.py
index 4d371adff3..b93e97123f 100644
--- a/tornado/test/curl_httpclient_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/curl_httpclient_test.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 # coding: utf-8
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from hashlib import md5
 import unittest
 
diff --git a/tornado/test/escape_test.py b/tornado/test/escape_test.py
index a7f0491b81..6881850dde 100644
--- a/tornado/test/escape_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/escape_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import unittest
 
 import tornado.escape
diff --git a/tornado/test/gen_test.py b/tornado/test/gen_test.py
index d3881a9b84..9e6cb095eb 100644
--- a/tornado/test/gen_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/gen_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import asyncio
 from concurrent import futures
 import gc
diff --git a/tornado/test/gettext_translations/extract_me.py b/tornado/test/gettext_translations/extract_me.py
index 283c13f413..08b29bc53c 100644
--- a/tornado/test/gettext_translations/extract_me.py
+++ b/tornado/test/gettext_translations/extract_me.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 # 3) msgfmt tornado_test.po -o tornado_test.mo
 # 4) Put the file in the proper location: $LANG/LC_MESSAGES
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 _("school")
 pgettext("law", "right")
 pgettext("good", "right")
diff --git a/tornado/test/http1connection_test.py b/tornado/test/http1connection_test.py
index 8aaaaf35b7..4d8c04bc51 100644
--- a/tornado/test/http1connection_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/http1connection_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import socket
 
 from tornado.http1connection import HTTP1Connection
diff --git a/tornado/test/httpclient_test.py b/tornado/test/httpclient_test.py
index a9212e89fa..578f1f39da 100644
--- a/tornado/test/httpclient_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/httpclient_test.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import base64
 import binascii
 from contextlib import closing
diff --git a/tornado/test/httpserver_test.py b/tornado/test/httpserver_test.py
index 6f4389abf8..3b1e23470d 100644
--- a/tornado/test/httpserver_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/httpserver_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado import gen, netutil
 from tornado.concurrent import Future
 from tornado.escape import json_decode, json_encode, utf8, _unicode, recursive_unicode, native_str
diff --git a/tornado/test/httputil_test.py b/tornado/test/httputil_test.py
index b1fb468d96..cec6017fed 100644
--- a/tornado/test/httputil_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/httputil_test.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado.httputil import (
     url_concat, parse_multipart_form_data, HTTPHeaders, format_timestamp,
     HTTPServerRequest, parse_request_start_line, parse_cookie, qs_to_qsl,
diff --git a/tornado/test/import_test.py b/tornado/test/import_test.py
index be5b312364..2f360d082c 100644
--- a/tornado/test/import_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/import_test.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 # flake8: noqa
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import unittest
diff --git a/tornado/test/ioloop_test.py b/tornado/test/ioloop_test.py
index 6f886cca78..fc0011cf4b 100644
--- a/tornado/test/ioloop_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/ioloop_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from concurrent import futures
 import contextlib
diff --git a/tornado/test/iostream_test.py b/tornado/test/iostream_test.py
index f87bbf8477..9c6dbf76e6 100644
--- a/tornado/test/iostream_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/iostream_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 from tornado.concurrent import Future
 from tornado import gen
 from tornado import netutil
diff --git a/tornado/test/locale_test.py b/tornado/test/locale_test.py
index db5d4838a8..67ed123b98 100644
--- a/tornado/test/locale_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/locale_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import datetime
 import os
 import shutil
diff --git a/tornado/test/locks_test.py b/tornado/test/locks_test.py
index 5e7cfb0b3a..1306e06c90 100644
--- a/tornado/test/locks_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/locks_test.py
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 from datetime import timedelta
 import unittest
 
diff --git a/tornado/test/log_test.py b/tornado/test/log_test.py
index 03302d6cca..ccd38dad61 100644
--- a/tornado/test/log_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/log_test.py
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@
 # WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import contextlib
 import glob
 import logging
diff --git a/tornado/test/netutil_test.py b/tornado/test/netutil_test.py
index 0637dea61f..6686e9fbaa 100644
--- a/tornado/test/netutil_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/netutil_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import errno
 import os
 import signal
diff --git a/tornado/test/options_test.py b/tornado/test/options_test.py
index e6c81f5803..e38db0800f 100644
--- a/tornado/test/options_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/options_test.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import datetime
 from io import StringIO
 import os
diff --git a/tornado/test/process_test.py b/tornado/test/process_test.py
index d12ac36b0c..e8ac81a3c7 100644
--- a/tornado/test/process_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/process_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import asyncio
 import logging
 import os
diff --git a/tornado/test/queues_test.py b/tornado/test/queues_test.py
index 5aaaf51e68..d63882a9de 100644
--- a/tornado/test/queues_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/queues_test.py
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 from datetime import timedelta
 from random import random
 import unittest
diff --git a/tornado/test/resolve_test_helper.py b/tornado/test/resolve_test_helper.py
index 429671962f..a055280d12 100644
--- a/tornado/test/resolve_test_helper.py
+++ b/tornado/test/resolve_test_helper.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
 from tornado.netutil import ThreadedResolver
 
diff --git a/tornado/test/routing_test.py b/tornado/test/routing_test.py
index 3cb34ad78f..722662555b 100644
--- a/tornado/test/routing_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/routing_test.py
@@ -10,9 +10,6 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado.httputil import HTTPHeaders, HTTPMessageDelegate, HTTPServerConnectionDelegate, ResponseStartLine  # noqa: E501
 from tornado.routing import HostMatches, PathMatches, ReversibleRouter, Router, Rule, RuleRouter
 from tornado.testing import AsyncHTTPTestCase
diff --git a/tornado/test/runtests.py b/tornado/test/runtests.py
index b9f797c757..f7b7cbe81e 100644
--- a/tornado/test/runtests.py
+++ b/tornado/test/runtests.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from functools import reduce
 import gc
 import io
diff --git a/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py b/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py
index 82853f3900..d9ea96b776 100644
--- a/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import collections
 from contextlib import closing
 import errno
diff --git a/tornado/test/tcpclient_test.py b/tornado/test/tcpclient_test.py
index 97996177c3..df4eee9df5 100644
--- a/tornado/test/tcpclient_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/tcpclient_test.py
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@
 # WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
-
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from contextlib import closing
 import os
 import socket
diff --git a/tornado/test/tcpserver_test.py b/tornado/test/tcpserver_test.py
index 95e21775c6..7408c780de 100644
--- a/tornado/test/tcpserver_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/tcpserver_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import socket
 import subprocess
 import sys
@@ -141,7 +139,6 @@ def test_single(self):
         # As a sanity check, run the single-process version through this test
         # harness too.
         code = textwrap.dedent("""
-            from __future__ import print_function
             from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
             from tornado.tcpserver import TCPServer
 
@@ -155,7 +152,6 @@ def test_single(self):
 
     def test_simple(self):
         code = textwrap.dedent("""
-            from __future__ import print_function
             from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
             from tornado.process import task_id
             from tornado.tcpserver import TCPServer
@@ -171,7 +167,6 @@ def test_simple(self):
 
     def test_advanced(self):
         code = textwrap.dedent("""
-            from __future__ import print_function
             from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
             from tornado.netutil import bind_sockets
             from tornado.process import fork_processes, task_id
diff --git a/tornado/test/template_test.py b/tornado/test/template_test.py
index bd900db006..0d12a9ea00 100644
--- a/tornado/test/template_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/template_test.py
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import os
-import sys
 import traceback
 import unittest
 
@@ -160,9 +157,12 @@ def test_break_in_apply(self):
         except ParseError:
             pass
 
-    @unittest.skipIf(sys.version_info >= division.getMandatoryRelease(),
-                     'no testable future imports')
+    @unittest.skip('no testable future imports')
     def test_no_inherit_future(self):
+        # TODO(bdarnell): make a test like this for one of the future
+        # imports available in python 3. Unfortunately they're harder
+        # to use in a template than division was.
+
         # This file has from __future__ import division...
         self.assertEqual(1 / 2, 0.5)
         # ...but the template doesn't
diff --git a/tornado/test/testing_test.py b/tornado/test/testing_test.py
index c4e7ebd2b4..1e1c019b85 100644
--- a/tornado/test/testing_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/testing_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado import gen, ioloop
 from tornado.httpserver import HTTPServer
 from tornado.testing import AsyncHTTPTestCase, AsyncTestCase, bind_unused_port, gen_test
diff --git a/tornado/test/twisted_test.py b/tornado/test/twisted_test.py
index 06ed4f0588..5d90272a89 100644
--- a/tornado/test/twisted_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/twisted_test.py
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
 Unittest for the twisted-style reactor.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import logging
 import signal
 import unittest
diff --git a/tornado/test/util.py b/tornado/test/util.py
index 1c8f91f6c4..60e787b7da 100644
--- a/tornado/test/util.py
+++ b/tornado/test/util.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import contextlib
 import os
 import platform
diff --git a/tornado/test/util_test.py b/tornado/test/util_test.py
index 1b7b82abf9..a8c2cc094e 100644
--- a/tornado/test/util_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/util_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 # coding: utf-8
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 from io import StringIO
 import re
 import sys
@@ -193,10 +192,9 @@ def test_unicode_escapes(self):
 
 
 class ExecInTest(unittest.TestCase):
-    # This test is python 2 only because there are no new future imports
-    # defined in python 3 yet.
-    @unittest.skipIf(sys.version_info >= print_function.getMandatoryRelease(),
-                     'no testable future imports')
+    # TODO(bdarnell): make a version of this test for one of the new
+    # future imports available in python 3.
+    @unittest.skip('no testable future imports')
     def test_no_inherit_future(self):
         # This file has from __future__ import print_function...
         f = StringIO()
diff --git a/tornado/test/web_test.py b/tornado/test/web_test.py
index 7bc3c055b7..cb1ab353c2 100644
--- a/tornado/test/web_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/web_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from tornado.concurrent import Future
 from tornado import gen
 from tornado.escape import json_decode, utf8, to_unicode, recursive_unicode, native_str, to_basestring  # noqa: E501
diff --git a/tornado/test/websocket_test.py b/tornado/test/websocket_test.py
index 8aa3d0d962..23dc2805d8 100644
--- a/tornado/test/websocket_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/websocket_test.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import functools
 import traceback
 import unittest
diff --git a/tornado/test/windows_test.py b/tornado/test/windows_test.py
index 48faa5b5bc..62a82dc12d 100644
--- a/tornado/test/windows_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/windows_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 import functools
 import os
 import socket
diff --git a/tornado/test/wsgi_test.py b/tornado/test/wsgi_test.py
index 81ac01a587..f98da5bd73 100644
--- a/tornado/test/wsgi_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/wsgi_test.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 from wsgiref.validate import validator
 
 from tornado.testing import AsyncHTTPTestCase
diff --git a/tornado/testing.py b/tornado/testing.py
index 444b62f247..4521ea9cc9 100644
--- a/tornado/testing.py
+++ b/tornado/testing.py
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
   for the tornado.autoreload module to rerun the tests when code changes.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 from collections.abc import Generator
 import functools
 import inspect
diff --git a/tornado/util.py b/tornado/util.py
index 01bf4a1113..e2802ac1d6 100644
--- a/tornado/util.py
+++ b/tornado/util.py
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@
 and `.Resolver`.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import array
 import atexit
 from inspect import getfullargspec
diff --git a/tornado/web.py b/tornado/web.py
index de9bd94806..76337ea831 100644
--- a/tornado/web.py
+++ b/tornado/web.py
@@ -57,8 +57,6 @@ def get(self):
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import base64
 import binascii
 import datetime
diff --git a/tornado/websocket.py b/tornado/websocket.py
index bba00d1eef..5398180aa3 100644
--- a/tornado/websocket.py
+++ b/tornado/websocket.py
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
    Removed support for the draft 76 protocol version.
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import base64
 import hashlib
 import os
diff --git a/tornado/wsgi.py b/tornado/wsgi.py
index 3f31ddb8a3..a23be24274 100644
--- a/tornado/wsgi.py
+++ b/tornado/wsgi.py
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import sys
 from io import BytesIO
 import tornado