PRINTS
Ginkô (Adachi Ginkô); Fukumi (Hasegawa Fukumi) [publisher]
Japan (1874 - 1897)
Emperor Yuryaku Killing a Wild Boar
1896
Color woodblock print on heavy wove paper
8 3/8 x 12 13/16 in. (21.3 x 32.5 cm) image size; 8 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. (22.2 x 34.3 cm) sheet size
Frances and Thomas Blakemore Collection
FA 96.49

Born Adachi Heishichi, Adachi Ginko was a traditional Ukiyo-e woodblock printer. Though Ukiyo-e was most common in the Edo era from the 17th to mid-19th centuries, during the following Meiji period it experienced a resurgence fostered by the Sino-Japanese War. The perceived idyllic years of Japan’s past were expressed through contemporary art as a kind of propaganda intended to justify Japan’s role in the war. In this image the popular myth of Emperor Yuryaku of the late 5th century might have been revived to instill pride in the war-torn country.

Ginko Adachi worked as a war correspondent and illustrator during the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895). His woodblock prints produced during this conflict often portray the Japanese subjects as victorious. Besides his war prints, Ginko also produced satirical cartoons, book illustrations, and actor portraits. Ukiyo-e, or pictures of “the floating world,” was a popular form of printmaking in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867). Ukiyo was the name given to the lifestyle in Japan's urban centers of this period-the fashions, the entertainments, and the pleasures of the flesh. Ukiyo-e documents this era using intricately cut woodblock for detailed, expressive prints. -- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.