'Black Ship' (Kurofune), illustration from Bugei Kurabu (Literary Club)
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Album: 8 1/2 x 5 5/16 in. (21.6 x 13.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Meiji period (1868–1912)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Donald Keene, in honor of Julia Meech-Pekarik, 1986
Accession Number
JP3721
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created during Japan’s transformative Meiji period (1868–1912), Tomioka Eisen’s woodblock print “Black Ship” (Kurofune) captures a pivotal moment of cultural encounter. The title directly references the Western vessels—famously called “black ships”—that arrived in the mid-nineteenth century and ended Japan’s long isolation. Published as an illustration in the literary magazine Bugei Kurabu, the print blends traditional ukiyo-e techniques with contemporary themes, using ink and color on paper to depict ships, men, girls, and swords in a compact album format measuring just over eight inches tall...
About the Artist
Tomioka Eisen · 1864–1905
Japanese, 1864–1905