Minneapolis Institute of Art

I want to cancel my subscription

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; Author: Takabatake Ransen; Publisher: Inoue Mohei

Date

January 1878

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

From the 1870s to the 1880s, newspapers based on Western models were established in Japan, and they were of two types: “large” newspapers, which catered to intellectuals and elites and focused on governing; and “small” newspapers, which attracted the masses. While her cat perches on a chest, a woman hunkers on her elbows over Kanayomi shinbun, a short-lived small newspaper that covered popular culture. Kanayomi shinbun was aimed at common Japanese readers. Even the name of the newspaper (Shinbun) highlighted this, with Kanayomi literally meaning “to read kana, ” referring to a simple, phonetic alphabet used to write Japanese. More complicated Chinese characters were annotated with kana in order for readers to more easily consume the news sold by this paper. This print belongs to a series titled A Collection of Desires, in which Yoshitoshi explored simple desires by combining themes with the personality types of beautiful women. For the woman in this print, “cancellation” has a double meaning: one regarding subscriptions, and the other about wanting to disavow a tryst with a lover that was uncovered. Asia

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