Fine Japanese Calligraphy

The Art of Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase

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PRINTS IN THE MEIZI ERA

The Meizi era (1868–1912) was a great turning-point in the cultural history of Japan. The introduction of Western civilization on a grand scale entailed sweeping reforms in all spheres of national activity, not excluding the different fields of art, where various Occidental modes and methods of art-expression were eagerly adopted and assimilated.

It is true that the Western art of painting had once been in vogue in Japan before, that is, towards the close of the 16th century, when it flourished here with Christianity. After making considerable headway, it rapidly declined, but at the opening of the 18th century the Western principles of linear perspective were introduced to our artists by way of China. This new knowledge, as was pointed out in an earlier chapter, profoundly influenced the ukiyo-e painters; and towards the end of the century Siba-Kōkan, Aōdō-Denzen, and others at last revived oil-painting, while artistic copper-prints catering to good taste were also produced. A good many painters for copper-plates have since made their appearance.

This brings us, by way of contrast and comparison, to the question of the genealogy of colour-print artists in the Meizi era. Some of the artists, closely adhering to the modes and practices of the traditional schools, gradually estranged themselves from the tastes and trends of the new age. But others, like Kobayasi-Kiyotika, added Western

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Black-and-white print of a large two-storey building with a curved tiled roof beside water. Lit windows in the upper floor show two dark figures, and a lit doorway at the lower left shows figures against a pale panel, with a lamp hanging at its side. A long fence of upright boards runs along the front. At the right a dark bank with posts leads toward the water, with two dark figures standing on it, and a far shore shows at the right edge. Long streaky cloud shapes fill the sky at the upper right.
Restaurant on the River Sumida, Tokyo. By Kiyotika

devices and touches to the modes and manners traditional to ukiyo-e, thus bringing into being a new style of printed picture which greatly appealed to the general public. A new era of prosperity for wood-cuts appropriate to the new régime seemed to have dawned, only to prove a false dawn, for the art of photography then made such rapid progress and photographs became so popular that the domain of wood-cuts was greatly narrowed. This was a severe blow to the traditional art of picture printing.

To sum up, the Meizi era was a period of sudden and serious decline for Japanese colour prints.

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Colour print of a figure with very long black hair, the head bent down and to the right. The hair swings out behind the head and over the shoulder, and a long lock hangs down at the lower right. One hand holds up part of the hair, and the other holds a yellow comb at the lower center. The robe is blue-green, patterned with white flowers, with a small red-brown shape at the cuff, and the ground is plain grey. A signature column with a red seal stands at the left.
COMBING THE HAIR
By Goyō Hasiguti