- Museum number
- 2015,3028.1-48
- Title
- Object: (Nikuhitsu manga) Kaikoku rokujūnen-shi zue (肉筆漫画) 開国六十年史図絵 ((Manga paintings) Illustrations of Sixty Years of History Since the Founding of the Nation)
- Description
-
Album of 48 manga paintings; ink and colour on paper. Various artists. Originally produced as a set of 50 of which nos. 24 and 37 do not appear in this album. Subjects of the paintings refer to historical people and events from the period 1868-1927 (the first sixty years of modern Japanese history).
The contents are as follows:
1. Change of the capital to Tokyo (Sento 遷都), by Kitazawa Rakuten
2. Telegraph and horse-drawn carriage (Denshin to basha 電信と馬車), by Ushijima Issui
3. Rickshaw and postal service (Jinrikisha to yūbin 人力車と郵便), by Maekawa Senpan
4. Promulgation of the conscription law (Chōheirei happu 徴兵令発布), by Shimizu Taigakubō
5. Cutting the topknot and abolition of wearing swords (Danpatsu haitō 断髪廃刀), by Wada Kunibō
6. Inauguration of train service (Kisha kaitsū 汽車開通), by Shirota Shūichi
7. Split in the debate over the chastisement of Korea (Seikanron haretsu 征韓論破裂), by Hosokibara Seiki
8. Seinan war (Seinan sensō 西南戦争), by Hattori Ryōei
9. Opening of the first National Exhibition (Hajimete hakurankai hirakaru 初めて博覧会開かる), by Fujimoto Sekito
10. Formation of the first cabinet government (Hajimete naikaku soshiki naru 初めて内閣組織なる), by Kyōya Kinsuke
11. Deer Cry Pavilion incident (Rokumeikan jiken 鹿鳴館事件), by Moriyama Saburō
12. Promulgation of the constitution (Kenpō happu 憲法発布), by Mori Kazan
13. The fashion for Oppekepe chanting (Oppekepe-bushi ryūkō オッペケペ節流行), by Miyao Shigeo
14. Revision of the foreign treaties (Jōyaku kaisei 條約改正), by Moriyama Saburō
15. Opening of the first Diet (Hajimete kokkai o hiraku 初めて国会を開く), by Hozumi Tōten
16. The heyday of Kabuki theatre (Kabuki-geki zensei 歌舞伎劇全盛), by Nagasaki Batten
17. Middle Captain Fukushima (Fukushima chūsa 福島中佐), by Maekawa Senpan
18. Sino-Japanese war (Nisshin sensō 日清戦争), by Kobayashi Katsumi
19. Perseverance and determination(Gashin shōtan 臥薪嘗胆), by Ikebe Kin
20. Rule over Taiwan (Taiwan tōji 台湾統治), by Ikeda Eiji
21. Prof. Fukuzawa Yukichi (Fukuzawa Yukichi sensei 福沢諭吉先生), by Kitazawa Rakuten
22. Great Tsunami in the Sanriku region (Sanriku daikaishō 三陸大海嘯), by Mizushima Niou
23. The first strikes (Sutoraiki kaiso ストライキ開祖), by Kawamori Hisao
[Writer Masaoka Shiki (Masaoka Shiki koji 正岡子規居士), by Shimizu Taigakubō 清水対岳坊 (1883 – 1970) – missing from this set]
24. Right of foreigners to live in the interior (Naichi zakkyo 内地雑居), by Kawamori Hisao
25. Formation of the Anglo-Japanese alliance (Nichi’ei dōmei naru 日英同盟成る), by Wada Kunibō
26. Russo-Japanese war (Nichiro sensō 日露戦争), by Hozumi Tōten
27. Heyday of sumo (Sumo zensei 相撲全盛), by Fujimoto Sekio
28. Arson and demonstrations (Yakiuchi jiken 焼打事件), by Ushijima Issui
29. Establishment of the Karafuto Agency (Karafuto-chō o oku 樺太廰を置く), by Shirota Shūichi
30. Appearance of female actors (Joyū shutsugen 女優出現), by Hattori Ryōei
31. Union with Korea (Chōsen heigō 朝鮮併合), by 阪本牙城 Sakamoto Gajō
32. Change to the Taishō era (Taishō kaigen 大正改元), by Mizushima Niou
33. General Nogi (Nogi taishō 乃木将軍), by 阪本牙城 Sakamoto Gajō
34. Celebrating the coronation of the Taishō emperor (Taishō tennō go-sokui shukuga 大正天皇御即位祝賀), by Miyao Shigeo
35. Declaration of war on Germany (Doitsu ni sensen 独逸に宣戦), by Nagasaki Batten
[ Professor Natsume Soseki (Natsume Soseki sensei 夏目漱石先生), by Okamoto Ippei 岡本一平(1886-1948) – missing from this set]
36. Meiji shrine (Meiji jingū 明治神宮), by Mori Kazan
37. Womens’ rights (Josei no kakusei 女性の覚醒), by Kobayashi Katsumi
38. Age of the nouveau riche (Narikin jidai 成金時代), by Kyōya Kinsuke
39. Growing awareness of workers (Rōdōsha no jikaku 労働者の自覚), by Ikeda Eiji
40. Nikolayevsk Incident (Nikō jiken 尼港事件), by Nakajima Rokurō
41. The commoner prime minister (Heimin shushō 平民宰相), by Ikebe Kin
42. The rise of sports (Supōtsu ryūsei スポーツ隆盛), by Morishima Naozō
43. Great Kantō earthquake (Kantō dai shinsai 関東大震災), by Tanaka Hisao
44. The age of airplanes (Hikōki jidai 飛行機時代), by Tanaka Hisara
45. Radio and movies (Rajio to katsudō ラヂオと活動), by Morishima Naozō
46. Promulgation of universal suffrage law (Futsū senkyōhō happu 普通選挙法発布), by Nakajima Rokurō
47. Approval of one yen taxis (Ichi’en takushii bakko 一圓タクシー跋扈), by Hosokibara Seiki
48. Flapper (Modan gaaru 毛断蛙), by Okamoto Ippei
- Production date
- 1927
- Dimensions
-
Height: 32.10 centimetres (cover)
-
Width: 43.40 centimetres (cover)
- Curator's comments
- This set of manga paintings was created in 1927, looking back at sixty years since the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Events commemorated are a mixture of international, national and social developments, emphasising Japan’s foreign victories and colonial ambitions, also featuring the technological monikers of modernisation such as the telegraph, railways, airplanes and radio. The style is loose and abbreviated in the manga style and the tone generally comic but sometimes surprisingly sober.
The paintings were originally created by a group of 25 manga artists, some of them major figures, with two paintings done by each artist. They were sold and distributed by subscription (including postal subscription) at a price of sixty yen for the set. It is not recorded how many sets were created. A photocopy of the original explanatory booklet includes two photos: the first shows the group of artists meeting at Chūō Bijutsu Kyōkai on 12 September 1927 to discuss the project; and the second, taken a week later on 19 September, shows them standing around a table looking at the piles of finished paintings. The booklet also has much more detailed printed descriptions than the table of contents, a kind of historical narrative celebrating in an upbeat way the modernisation of the country.
Manga have always been firmly rooted in the popular life of Japan and it is fascinating here to see them mobilised to present such a meta-narrative of the modernising of the nation. Six months later, a similar project was apparently organised to produce Manga Paintings: Illustrations of Two Thousand Five Hundred Years of History Since the Founding of the Country (Nikuhitsu manga: Kenkoku nisen gohyakunen-shi zue) – another set of fifty manga paintings by a similar group of artists, also organised and distributed by Chūō Bijutsu Kyōkai. This extends the rhetoric of the current series in an even more nationalistic direction.
Two of the original paintings--the portraits of writers Masaoka Shiki and Natsume Soseki--are missing from this group of what was originally planned as fifty works, but the album gives no evidence that these paintings were removed.
(T.Clark 10/2015)
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2017 Apr-Dec, London, BM, Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from prehistory to the present' (nos. 10-11)
2018 Oct-2019 Apr, BM Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries (nos. 8-9)
2019 23 May-26 Aug, BM, G30, Manga (nos. 6-7)
- Acquisition date
- 2015
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2015,3028.1-48
- Additional IDs
-
Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.Add.1365
