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Sadanobu's small landscapes of Kyoto and Osaka were produced very much with the Edo artist Hiroshige in mind. Indeed, he also did miniature copies of some of Hiroshige's most famous designs.<br/><br/> Kyoto was the capital of Japan from 1180 to 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo (previously Edo) at the beginning of the Meiji Era in 1868. Sadanobu's woodblock prints of 'Famous Places in the Capital' was thus produced towards the very end of Kyoto's position as the Japanese capital, and possibly continued into the first year or two of the Meiji Period.
Toyohara Chikanobu, better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu, was a prolific woodblock artist of Japan's Meiji period. His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity.<br/><br/> In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist. He travelled to Tokyo. He found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun. In addition, he produced <i>nishiki-e</i> artworks. In his younger days, he had studied the Kanō school of painting; but his interest was drawn to <i>ukiyo-e</i>.<br/><br/> Like many <i>ukiyo-e</i> artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects. His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions. As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well-known for his impressions of the <i>mie</i> (formal pose) of kabuki productions.<br/><br/> Chikanobu was known as a master of <i>bijinga</i>, images of beautiful women, and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing. His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time. For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keio era, 1865-1867.
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige, and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige. Among many masterpieces, Hiroshige is particularly remembered for 'The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō' (1834–1842) and 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji' (1852–1858).
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源 義経?, 1159 – June 15, 1189) was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and the third and final son and child that Yoshitomo would father with Tokiwa Gozen.<br/><br/> Yoshitsune's older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo (the third son of Yoshitomo) founded the Kamakura Shogunate. Yoshitsune's name in childhood was Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸). He is considered one of the greatest and the most popular warriors of his era, and one of the most famous samurai fighters in the history of Japan.
Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famous Akasen district (red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.<br/><br/> In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. These districts were Shimabara for Kyōto (1640), Shinmachi for Ōsaka (1624–1644) and Yoshiwara for Edo (1617). The main reason for establishing these nightless cities was the Tokugawa shogunate's trying to prevent the nouveau riche chōnin (townsmen) from political intrigue.<br/><br/> People involved in mizu shōbai (水商売?) 'water trade' would include hōkan (comedians), kabuki (popular theatre of the time), dancers, dandies, rakes, tea-shop girls, Kanō (painters of the official school of painting), courtesans who resided in seirō (green houses) and geisha in their okiya houses.<br/><br/> The courtesans would consist of yūjo (women of pleasure/prostitutes), kamuro (young female students), shinzō (senior female students), hashi-jōro (lower-ranking courtesans), kōshi-jōro (high-ranking courtesans just below tayū), tayū (high-ranking courtesans), oiran ('castle-topplers', named that way for how quickly they could part a daimyō (lord) from his money), yarite (older chaperones for an oiran), and the yobidashi who replaced the tayū when they were priced out of the market.<br/><br/> In addition to courtesans, there were also geisha/geiko, maiko (apprentice geishas), otoko geisha (male geishas), danna (patrons of a geisha), and okasan (geisha teahouse managers). The lines between geisha and courtesans were sharply drawn, however - a geisha was never to be sexually involved with a customer, though there were exceptions.
Fukami Jikyu, a Japanese fictional hero—similar in reputation to England's Robin Hood—walks proudly in his elegant kimono as cherry blossoms fall around him. Yoshitoshi creates the sense of a calm spring evening in this post-Edo period woodcut. It is from a series titled 'One Hundred Views of the Moon', for which Yoshitoshi is renowned in Japan. Alongside his signature in the cartouche at the top right of the painting, Yoshitoshi has included a short poem. Toshiyoshi's model for this 'otokodate' (fictional hero) character was a local 'kabuki' theatre actor.
'Hanami' is the centuries-old Japanese practice of picnicking under a blooming sakura or ume tree. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710–794) when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning. But by the Heian Period (794–1185), sakura came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura. The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.
'Hanami' is the centuries-old Japanese practice of picnicking under a blooming sakura or ume tree. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710–794) when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning. But by the Heian Period (794–1185), sakura came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura. The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.
Advertisement characteristic of 'old Shanghai' in the 1920-1940s, a trend started by American newspaperman Carl Crow who lived in Shanghai between 1911 and 1937, starting the first Western advertising agency in the city and creating much of what is thought of today as the 'sexy China Girl' poster and calendar advertisements. In today's more liberal China, these are making a comeback and are widely considered minor works of art characteristic of 'Old Shanghai'.
Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, and the word was closely associated with the middle and upper echelons of the warrior class.<br/><br/> The samurai followed a set of rules that came to be known as Bushidō. While they numbered less than ten percent of Japan's population, samurai teachings can still be found today in both everyday life and in martial arts such as Kendō, meaning the way of the sword.