Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, sails into Tokyo Bay, Japan, with a squadron of four vessels. For a time, Japanese officials refused to speak with Perry, but under threat of attack by the superior American ships they accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation to […]
Meiji Restoration, political revolution in 1868 in Japan that brought about the end of the shogunate and ushered in the subsequent era of major political, economic, and social change—the Meiji period (1868–1912)—that brought about the modernization and Westernization of the country.
See also: Kamuro (attendant) at Yoshiwara, c. 1910 "By the 1760s ... the tayo and koshi had disappeared in Yoshiwara and had been supplanted by the oiran, the highest ranking courtesans. "The highest oiran were the yobidashi (literally, persons on call), who could be seen only be making an appointment through a teahouse. The next
"Illustration of Flowering Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park." (Right-hand plate.) "Illustration of Flowering Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park." The politics of Japan - both internal and international - were complicated and very troubled at the time of the Meiji Emperor's accession in 1867. According to the Nihon Shoki, the classical history of Japan, the nation has had an emperor since 660 BC, but for almost seven hundred years prior to the Meiji Restoration, Japan was actually controlled by a Shogunate, the emperors revered but virtually powerless. But with the forced opening of trade with the United States in the 1850s, the old systems of government had proved unequal to Western aggression, and the power of the Shogun was under attack. Finally, in 1868, after more than a decade of unrest, the new Emperor - still only fifteen years old - made a formal declaration of the restoration of his power, a restoration of practical imperial rule in Japan. In the following years, he oversaw radical changes in the country's political, military, and social structures, as Japan transformed itself from a feudal and isolationist society into a modern international power. "A Mirror of Japan’s Nobility - The Emperor Meiji, His Wife, and Prince Haru." Chikanobu's images of the Emperor, the Empress, and ladies of the Imperial court are a vivid example of the ruler's push to Westernize Japan. Court dress and uniforms for men, based on European models, were decreed only three years after the Restoration. Soon, too, fashionable, upper-class ladies, inspired by the Empress, took up wearing Western dress in public. And in 1886 - just prior to the images here - the court set out rules for ladies' formal wear. (None of these examples are of formal wear.) Ironically, Chikanobu, who so brilliantly described the lavish European fashion in his work here, came to greatly regret the changes in his country, the ever-escalating Westernization, the loss of its traditional culture. "Blooming Chrysanthemums in an Autumn Garden." "Excursion to View Cherry Blossoms by the Sumida River." "Meiji Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and Court Attendants in Western Clothing." "Meiji Emperor Prepares to Leave the Palace in the Phoenix Carriage." "Meiji Emperor and Empress - Autumn Colors." "Illustration of the Garden Refreshed after the Rain." "A Scene of the Japanese Diet." "A Contest of Elegant Ladies among the Cherry Blossoms." "Children Playing in the Snow under Plum Trees in Bloom." "Procession Outside Tokyo Imperial Palace with Meiji Emperor and his Consort." "Meiji Constitution Promulgation." "The Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and Court Ladies on an Outing to Asuka Park." "Illustration of Singing by the Plum Garden." "Visit of the Empress to the Third National Industrial Promotional Exhibition at Ueno Park." "Meiji Emperor, Empress, Crown Prince, and Court Attendants in Western Clothing/Royal Couple with Chrysanthemums." "The Emperor Enjoys A Cool Evening." *** Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延, better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu 楊洲周延, the name with which he signed his work: 1838–1912), woodblock artist of Japan's Meiji period. Born in Niigata Prefecture as Hashimoto Naoyoshi (橋本直義), he was the eldest of two children, his father a retainer of the powerful Sakakibara clan of samurai in Echigo Province. He showed artistic abilities as a young child and was given lessons with respected teachers. He also trained in the martial arts, and after the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai, an elite fighting corps, and became famous for his bravery in battle. In 1871, three years into the Meiji era, he established himself in Tokyo as a professional artist. He had studied several genres of art making, but was most drawn to ukiyo-e. His subject matter displayed great variety, ranging from Japanese mythology to battle scenes to ladies' fashions, from scenes of natural disasters to actor portraits. He illustrated events both contemporary and historical. He was very successful, but by the last decade of the century, he and much of his audience were becoming dismayed by the rapid changes taking place in Tokyo and were increasingly nostalgic about the lost world of the Shogunate, and his later work reflects this nostalgia. His last works featured retrograde images of the brave samurai and heroic women of Japan's past, and by 1905 his production of work had dwindled. He died of stomach cancer at the age of seventy-five.
The Meiji Restoration was a revolution that returned political power to Emperor Mutsuhito, ended of the shogunate system, and started modern Japan.
The Meiji period refers to the period in Japanese history from 1868 to 1912 during which the Meiji Emperor reigned. Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1868...
One of Kyoto's top three festivals, the Jidai Matsuri, is known for including famous figures from Japanese history... but just what makes them so famous?
The year 2018 has seen many events in Japan marking 150 years since the Meiji Restoration. While the year 1868 was crucial to the fall of the shogunate and the establishment of a new government, understanding the historical context requires a wider focus. This article gives a brisk overview of Japanese history from the arrival of the US Navy’s “black ships” in 1853 to the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution in 1889.
The relationship between society, dress and the body has always been complicated throughout history. For Japan, this became prevalent during the Meiji Restoration Era (1868-1912). Before, the Japan…
As the era of the samurai ended and Japan rushed towards modernization, a rough-scrabble fashion movement called Bankara rose in opposition.
We don't know who took these superb hand-colored albumen prints of Japan in the 1890s.
Ca. 1910-20 view of a Zen Buddhist playing off-key on a Bamboo Flute while hiding his face under a spaghetti-strainer because of his extreme embarrassment over not being able to carry a tune. The people in the house will pay him money just to get rid of him, hoping that he'll go away and bother somebody else. At least that's my theory. Here's what somebody else has to say about these guys: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komus%c5%8d On the million-to-one chance that the Wikipedia is correct (that these basket-headed Men from Mars are actually called KOMUSO, and are really members of a ZEN SECT of Buddhism going from house to house "begging alms" in exchange for a "blessing" to rid the house of -- or protect it from -- the forces of evil), it is very possible what they did actually worked -- thanks to the PLACEBO EFFECT. The Wikipedia site does not mention it, but certain of these Basket Head sects were actually prohibited by law at certain times, because gangsters and other yakuza types started walking around like this so people wouldn't recognize them....and they used this disguise to get to their enemies, or to get close enough to make trouble. Much like today where the occasional male might don an Islamic Burka to avoid the law, commit a crime, or get recognized and caught for something. Fortunately, both then and now, Japan does not allow itself to be controlled by "political correctness" in such cases, and has no qualms about telling either a Muslim or a Komuso to "take the damn thing off" if the situation requires it. And any claim of religious or cultural harassment in such cases would be a waste of time. Obviously, the laws were made and rescinded as times changed, and you can find plenty of these old photos from the mid-to-late Meiji era and beyond. Some OTHER RELATED IMAGES that might be of interest : www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=24443965@N08&q=Bas... The photo posed above is possibly by T. ENAMI.
