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Poster art in Japan between approximately 1920 and 1945 mirrors the rapid militarisation of society and the growth of militarism, statism and fascism during the Showa Era.<br/><br/> In the 1920s expo poster art features elements of modern art and even Art Deco. Themes are whimsical and outward looking, representing Japan's growing importance and influence in the world of international commerce and art. By the 1930s this kind of poster art had grown much more bleak, less concerned with human themes and more directed towards statism and social control. Feminine imagery disappears to be replaced by wheels of industry, with distinct similarities to contemporary Nazi art in Fascist Germany.<br/><br/> From the outbreak of full scale hostilities with China through to Pearl Harbour and Japan's entry into World War II, ponderous, heavy machinery, marching soldiers, menacing guns and above all bomber aircraft combine to give the posters a crushing, inhuman, Orwellian aspect. This epitomises Japanese fascist art of the Showa Period.
On 6 August and 9 August, 1945, the USA dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki respectively. More than 200,000 people died as a direct result of these two bombings, during which the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan.<br/><br/> Japan surrendered on 15 August, 1945 and a formal Instrument of Surrender was signed on 2 September, 1945, on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The surrender was accepted by Gen Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander, with representatives of each Allied nation, from a Japanese delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu. A separate surrender ceremony between Japan and China was held in Nanking on 9 September, 1945.<br/><br/> Following this period, MacArthur established bases in Japan to oversee the postwar development of the country. This period in Japanese history is known as the Occupation. US President Harry Truman officially proclaimed an end of hostilities on 31 December, 1946.<br/><br/> After a period of US occupation (1945–1952), Japan regained its independence. Japan was thereafter forbidden to have a standing army or wage war by Article 9 of its Constitution.
'Aoto Zōshi Hana no Nishiki-e' (青砥稿花紅彩画), as the original and fullest version of this play is known, is a tale in five acts of the shiranamimono (tales of thieves) sub-category of the kizewamono (rough contemporary piece) genre of kabuki plays. Written by Kawatake Mokuami, it first premiered at the Ichimura-za in Edo in March 1862.<br/><br/> The play centers on a band of five thieves, based on real thieves and criminals of Edo period Osaka: Karigane Bunshichi, An no Heibei, Gokuin Sen'emon, Kaminari Shōkurō and Hotei Ichiemon. The name of Nippon Daemon, the leader of the band, is taken from that of Nippon Saemon, who was captured and executed in 1747. The character of Benten Kozō, meanwhile, is said to have been based upon a servant at the Iwamoto-in temple on Enoshima, an island dedicated to the goddess Benten.