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Introduction

19th-Century Japanese Printmaking, Part I

The Heroic, Bizarre, and Supernatural
September 9 - December 6, 1998

In the nineteenth century, Japanese printmakers broadened their repertory of themes, introducing new subjects to satisfy the growing demand for print and to avoid the restrictions of government cenors. The prime subject matter for print designers was no longer the Kabuki theater and the licensed pleasure quarters inhabited by the most popular courtesans of the day. Instead, landscapes and beautiful views, illustrations of bird-and-flower themes, tales of heroism, historical narratives, and tales of ghosts and the supernatural all flourished alongside the more traditional eighteenth-century subjects.

The historical narratives and tales of heroes or ghosts are the subject of this exhibition. The marked increase in violent and supernatural subject matter in the arts of nineteenth-century Japan may be attributed in part to increasing social unrest as the Tokugawa shogunate (1615-1868) entered its final stages of decline. On the Kabuki stage, plays about revenge and retribution became increasibly popular. In the Treasury of Loyalty (Chushingura), a story first recounted in puppet theater, forty-seven measterless samurai (ronin) take revenge on Lord Kira of Kosuke for the death of their master, Lord Asano Nagonori (1667-1701). Lord Kira has provoked Lord Asano to draw his sword in the palace, an offense that required Asano to commit ritual suicide. The samurai, whose revenge on the snowy night of January 3, 1703, was dictated by loyalty to their dead lord, violated the law in killing Lord Kira. Despite public admiration for their act, they were eventually ordered by the government to commit ritual suicide themselves.

On the nineteenth-century stage and in woodblock prints, these actual events of the eighteenth century were thinly disguised by altering the names of the participants and by projecting the tale onto earlier narratives. Yoshitoshi's renditions of this subejct, which are especially bloody, draw upon his eyewitness experience of the battles in the civl war between the forces of the shogun's military government at Edo (Tokyo) and the emperor's armies in Kyoto. His series of "Portraits of True Loyalty and Righteous Hearts" (Seichu gishinden) usesthis early eighteenth-century tale to allude to political events taking place around him on the eve of the emperor's victory over the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of imperial power.

The striking and fantastic images on display here convey powerful emotions that were new to the print medium. The popularity of prints increased tremendously during the nineteenth century, their newly shocking viusal culture a reflection, at least in part, of the unsettled times.

Selected Objects

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Okano Kinuemon Fujiwara Kanehide, 1868.6

Utagawa Sadahide

Miyamoto Musashi and Kasaahara Shinzaburo (Miyamoto Musashi to Kasahara Shinzaburo), 1840s

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Kaoyo: a glimpse of the moon (Kaoyo kaimami no tsuki), 1886

Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川 国芳

Wada rebellion: Asahina Saburo Yoshihide attacking with superhuman strength (Wada kassen Asahina Saburo Yoshihide moyu kairiki), 1857.5

Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川 国芳

The Wada Rebellion: Asahina Saburō Yoshihide Attacking with Fierce Courage and Strength (Wada kassen Asahina Saburō Yoshihide mōyū kairyoku no zu), 1857, 5th month

Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川 国芳

Wada rebellion: Asahina Saburo Yoshihide attacking with superhuman strength (Wada kassen Asahina Saburo Yoshihide moyu kairiki), 1857.5

Utagawa Hirokage

Great battle between the troops of the fish and vegetables, 1859

Utagawa Hirokage

Great battle between the troops of the fish and vegetables (Aomono sakana gunsei daigassen no zu), 1859

Utagawa Hirokage

Great battle between the troops of the fish and vegetables, 1859

Toyohara Kunichika

Actors in the play Benkei in the Boat (Funa Benkei): Ichikawa Sadanji (Benkei); Ichikawa Ebizo VIII (Minamoto Yoshitsune), Nakamura Shikan IV (Funaosa Mihodayu) and Ichikawa Danjurō IX (Taira Tomomori, 1875

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Moon at Mount Inaba (Inabayama no tsuki), 1885.12.10

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Senzaki Yagoro Minamoto Noriyasu, 1868.6

Utagawa Hirokage

Great battle between the troops of the fish and vegetables, 1859

Ochiai Yoshiiku

Utsusemi: Watanabe no Tsuna, Chapter 3 from the series Modern Parodies of Genji (Imayō nazaroe Genji), 1864, 7th month

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The curse of Kasane [Onoe Kikugoro in the role of the ghost Kasane] (Kasane okon), 1838

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Uramatsu Sandayu Fujiwara Takanao, 1868.6

Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川 国芳

Nakamura Kansuke Masatatsu warding off a jar of hot ashes hurled at him (Nakamura Kansuke Masatatsu), 1852.12

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Iga no Tsubone: midnight moon, Mount Yoshino (Yoshinoyama yowa no tsuki Iga no Tsubone), 1886.1

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

Shiojiri: Ichikawa Danjuro VIII (1823-1854) as Takasaka Danjo at Kikkyo no Hara (Shiojiri: hachidai Ichikawa Danjuro/Takasaka Danjo/Kikkyo no Hara ), 1852.11

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Dawn Moon and Tumbling Snow: Kobayashi Heihachirō (Seppu no gyōgetsu: Kobayashi Heihachirō), 1886

Utagawa Sadahide

Miyamoto Musashi and Kasaahara Shinzaburo (Miyamoto Musashi to Kasahara Shinzaburo), 1840s

Utagawa Sadahide

Miyamoto Musashi and Kasaahara Shinzaburo (Miyamoto Musashi to Kasahara Shinzaburo), 1840s

Utagawa Sadahide

Miyamoto Musashi and Kasaahara Shinzaburo (Miyamoto Musashi to Kasahara Shinzaburo), 1840s

Toyohara Kunichika

Kabuki actors in the play Benkei in the Boat (Funa Benkei): Ichikawa Sadanji (the warrior-monk Musashi Benkei); Ichikawa Ebizo VIII (Minamoto no Yoshitsune) and Nakamura Shikan IV (Funaosa Mihodayu); , 1875

Toyohara Kunichika

Kabuki actors in the play Benkei in the Boat (Funa Benkei): Ichikawa Sadanji (the warrior-monk Musashi Benkei); Ichikawa Ebizo VIII (Minamoto no Yoshitsune) and Nakamura Shikan IV (Funaosa Mihodayu); , 1875

Toyohara Kunichika

Kabuki actors in the play Benkei in the Boat (Funa Benkei): Ichikawa Sadanji (the warrior-monk Musashi Benkei); Ichikawa Ebizo VIII (Minamoto no Yoshitsune) and Nakamura Shikan IV (Funaosa Mihodayu); , 1875

More objects +

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