A participant in the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate, after the Meiji Restoration Etō Shinpei was appointed to a number of government posts, including Minister of Justice where he played a part in overhauling Japan's penal code. He resigned...
women; children (people by age group); bats (animals); trees; built works; bridges (built works)
As three bats / komori circle in the evening sky, two boys try to touch them with bamboo sticks while their mother and baby brother look on. Bats have long been a symbol of good luck in Northeast Asia because the words in Chinese for "bat" and for...
women; children (people by age group); infants; kimonos; books; fans (costume accessories); toys (recreational artifacts)
Seven children are shown amidst toys, games and books. Two girls play ayatori / "string pulling" or cat's cradle, while a young lad looks at pictures of samurai / "warriors." An inu haiku / papier mache dog is at right, next to a fan, drum and...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; military uniforms; hats; swords; chandeliers; murals (any medium); interior spaces
A Meiji government official dressed in his Western style military uniform receives his cockaded hat from one female attendant while another holds his European style sword. The group stands in a Western style building, probably the home of this...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; books; clocks; tables (support furniture); cabinets (case furniture); calligraphy
Two girls and their mother are enjoying books. One daughter is kneeling before an open illustrated volume, holding a pointer to help her read. Her sister, standing behind, holds another thread bound book, similar in color to the cover of the one...
families; women; children (people by age group); Single Built Works; dwellings; kimonos; hats; suits
Print no. 4 of the "24 Paragons" shows at top the story of Min Ziqian (J: Binshiken) whose stepmother preferred his stepbrothers. When his father found out, the wife was ordered out of the house, but young Min begged his father to allow her to...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; interior spaces;
In this charming domestic scene Princess Yohime, daughter of the eleventh Shogun Tokugawa Ienari, is crouched down untying the sandal of her husband; he gazes down at her with tender regard. He sits half in and half out the entrance to a house with...
Hanai Oume, who formerly had been a geisha under other names, was the owner of the Suigetsu restaurant in Tokyo. The night of June 9, 1887, she killed a man named Kamekichi on the banks of the Sumida River and afterward was arrested and charged...
An image of a woman, bound, with hair in her mouth. Over the two-year period from 1887 to 1888, Yoshitoshi produced his last and most accomplished set of "newspaper prints" as supplements to the Yamato newspaper. Muraoka (1786-1873) was a...
The courtesan Imamurasaki, dressed in festive, long-sleeved robes and a small hat, is depicted dancing to imayo music. Imayo was a popular form of music that originated among the common people, but toward the end of the Heian period was taken up by...
portrait; men (male humans); kimonos; dog (animal)
The Japanese rebel and statesman Takamori Saigo (1827-1877) was the military leader of the imperial forces against the shogunate leading to the Meiji restoration. His growing discontent with the curtailment of the privileges of the samurai class...
depictions; men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; interior spaces; fude; artists' brushes
A man with a handlebar mustache kneels on a red rug drawing irises on paper with an ink brush. A woman holding a towel and wearing a half-dozen hairsticks in her elaborate coiffure stands beside him. A small child sits at her feet stirring...
Dressed in fine French fashions, these two ladies and young girl seem to be ready for a stroll in the garden beyond or a visit to the newly modernized shopping area of the Ginza. On the table is a European teapot with matching cup and saucer, In...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; candles; candleholders; fusuma
During the Setsubun / "Change of Season" festival held at the end of winter by the lunar calendar, mame-maki / "bean throwing" is accompanied by shouts of "Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto" / "Good fortune in, demons out!" The beans are usually thrown out...
