Leiden University Student Repository

Dwinger, Jim (2019)

The Lost Samurai: Lost Narratives of Tokugawa Loyalism in Early Meiji Woodblock Prints by Kiyochika and Chikanobu

Master thesis | Asian Studies (60 EC) (MA)

It is well known that Meiji era woodblock print designers Kobayashi Kiyochika 小林清親 (1847-1915) and Toyohara Chikanobu 豊原周延 (1838-1912) fought during the Meiji restoration on the side of the Tokugawa shogunate. However, because the majority of academic secondary literature on prints tends to focus on the Meiji government's grand 'modernisation' project rather than dissenting voices, it has not been widely discussed to what extent their history as Tokugawa loyalists is expressed in their oeuvre. This thesis attempts to take a fresh approach by reexamining the early works by Kiyochika and Chikanobu. A thorough scrutiny of both visual object and historic context will show that there is more to the Meiji print than meets the eye.

Meiji

woodblock prints

Tokugawa loyalists

Kobayashi Kiyochika

Toyohara Chikanobu

Meiji opposition

Author

Dwinger, Jim

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Japanese

Supervisors

Smits, Ivo

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en