Chikanobu: Meiji Woman Reading a Newspaper with Sleeping Cat On Her Lap

Artist: Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912)
Title: Sumidagawa Date: 1890

Series: Magic Lantern Comparison (Gento shashin kurabe)

A woman leans on a table covered with a patterned yellow tablecloth, idly fidgeting with her hairpin, absorbed in her reading. She leans to her left to read a newspaper, and a cat sits cozily on her lap. She may be reading the Yomiuri Shimbun, which was popular at the time and had a large circulation. It may have been publishing fiction, as the large image in the center might refer to a serialized novel–the woman is engrossed in a way that might indicate excellent storytelling. In the Magic Lantern circle inset, we see a woman on a boat in winter on the Sumida River. Perhaps this woman is reading a story that involves a heroine taking a ferry in winter in this landscape. Magic lanterns that used projected glass slides were known as gentô in the Meiji period, and were very popular at the time, and were even used as educational aids. There is blindprinting on the fur of the cat.

The V&A catalog has translated this series as “Daydreams by Magic Lantern”, although this would be a very nontraditional translation of “kurabe”, which is generally translated as comparison or competition. Perhaps it does show women where they are vs. where they’d like to be.

Publisher: Yokoyama Ryohachi
Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. With minor spot in inset cartouche that seems to be color transfer.

Dimensions: ôban 37.3 x 24.8 cm  Signature: Yôshû Chikanobu hitsu

SKU: CHK080