皇国一新見聞誌|Chronicle of the Imperial Restoration (Kōkoku isshin kenbunshi)
June, 1876
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 14 1/2 x 9 3/8 in. (36.8 x 23.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Meiji period (1868–1912)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
Accession Number
2007.49.312
Tags
Art Historical Context
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi one of the last great masters of Japanese ukiyo-e wood printing, created *Chronicle of the Imperial (Kōkoku isshin kenbunshi)* June 1876, Japan's transformative Meiji period (1868–1912). This vibrant ink and color print on paper, measuring 14½ x 9⅜ inches, captures a pivotal moment in history: the 1868 Meiji Restoration which ended over two centuries of shogunate rule and restored imperial power, propelling Japan toward rapid modernization and Western influences. Featuring dynamic human figures amid boats and ships—likely evoking naval skirmishes or key Restoration events—...
About the Artist
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1839–1892
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was born on April 30, 1839, in the Shimbashi district of Edo, the city that would become Tokyo. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of the great masters of the Japanese woodblock print, who gave the boy the artist name 'Yoshitoshi' as a mark of lineage within the Utagawa School. From Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi absorbed the full tradition of ukiyo-e — th...