Kiyochika: Kanda Myojin Shrine in Tokyo (Satirical View)

Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915)
Title: Kanda Shrine in Tokyo
Series: Kiyochika Punch (Kiyochika ponchi)   Date: Ca. 1881

An older man is grabbing in an impertinent manner the garment of an older woman  who is following a younger woman who is turned away from us. The older woman wears obvious makeup and seems happy to have been thusly accosted. Perhaps she represents a teahouse or brothel owner. The man with a large nose and a balding head is oblivious to the woes of the young girl he carries on his back, who is being strangled by the good-luck rope of a Shinto area. A boy in too-large sandals looks on curiously. Perhaps they are his children that he is ignoring, but there is probably a larger story at play. Works from this series generally have a charged political or societal critique to make, but here the underlying point seems to be lost to time, and we have only the rather funny-in-itself tableau.

This series marks a turning point in Kiyochika’s career; he previously focused on landscapes, and beginning in 1881 his output was primarily comic and historical subjects. “Kiyochika ponchi” was derived from the satirical journal “Japan Punch”, which was modeled on the original English “Punch”. “Japan Punch” was founded by Charles Wirgman in 1862 in Yokohama; he was a correspondent for the The Illustrated London News. Henry Smith only counted eleven prints in this series; we can imagine that the Japanese authorities were not thrilled by any material that might have been considered subversive or critical of the government. (The Japanese authorities had controlled the subject matter of woodblock prints for most of the Edo period, so one doubts that they would stop considering them worthy of interest in the Meiji period.)

Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. With a light paper backing and tiny wormage near bottom.

Literature: For an overview of this series, see  “Kiyochika: Artist of Meiji Japan” by Henry D. Smith II, pages 58-59.

Dimensions: ôban (35.8 x 23.7 cm)  Publisher: Kobayashi Tetsujirô
Signature: Kobayashi Kiyochika (in margin)

SKU: KYC490