Since Easter I have had 3 deliveries from Japan but didn’t have the time or space to unpack them and photograph them all. So this…

Sam Leiter gave me a copy of a summary of the plot in Japanese (below) which I had summarised by u/Extension_Pipe4293 on Reddit:  A playboy…

This is just a quick analysis of my own Kunichika collection – listing all collaborations between publisher & carver, where they have both been mentioned…

Ukiyo-e artists were famous for having many different styles of signature throughout their careers and often these can help you pin-point a rough date range…

Fukuda Kumajirō [福田熊次郎] and his son Fukuda Hatsujirō [福田初次郎] (1894-1939) were quite a force in Meiji publishing. Their double-fish logo giving their name and address…

The Meiji period brought in a lot of relaxations in censorship and this brought about a boom in the number of newspapers all vying to…

Umbrellas don’t sound very thrilling but I’m always looking out for elements of ukiyo-e that illustrate aspects of the Meiji period – the preoccupations of…

In the early days of ukiyo-e artists, experimented with different types of background to give their characters better prominence and increate their visual impact. One…

This modern Meiji play is a morality tale about the effects of money and greed on a family’s fortune, based on Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s play of…

The sayaate scene is one of the most famous confrontations in kabuki theatre, in the play Ukiyozuka Hiyoku no Inazuma and in fact it is…

The Tokugawa shoguns had ruled for the entire Edo period (1603 to 1868) and in theory they ruled for the Emperor but in reality they…

Ougi Byoushi Ōoka Seidan (Famous Cases of Ōoka) is part of a family of plays about the life and times of Ōoka Tadasuke, an Edo…

This play features one of the most famous street-tough heroes (otokodate) of kabuki theatre – others include Sukeroku. They were heroic fighting commoners who would…

I don’t have the synopsis for this play but it seems to have been a very popular play based on the book “Meijin Choji: Joiner”…

I really love this print because it sums up the Meiji period very nicely – a traditional play “Kyō Ningyō (Kyōto Doll)” has been updated…

Suitengū Megumi no Fukagawa (also called “Kōbē Fudeya”) was one of the so-called “Cropped Hair Plays (zangirimono) portraying “modern” Meiji Tokyo and the people living…

Dōjōji Ittsui no Furisode (“The Maiden at Dōjō Temple”) is another classic kabuki dance play based on an 18th century Nō play simply called “Dōjōji”.…

Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi often called just “Kirare Yosa” or “Yosa the Bat” is another traditional classic of the kabuki repertoire but, ironically, the…

Soga Monogatari is another very simple story that has spawned many variants and is a classic tale of revenge. Soga Jūrō and Soga Gorō are…

Shinza the Barber is one of my favourites of the modern Meiji plays. It is a classic kabuki story of love, abduction, trickery and revenge…