Ad Blankestijn: The Appearance of an Upper Class Wife of the Meiji Era: Out for a Walk, by Yoshitoshi (1888)

This print by Yoshitoshi shows a Japanese woman strolling among irises, probably in an iris garden. The dress suggests that this is a wealthy, upper-class woman living in the Meiji period (1868-1912), when Japan was modernizing (and Westernizing). In other words, we see a wealthy young beauty dressed in the latest Western fashions. The vibrantly colored irises in purple and white beside and behind her are rather unnaturally high (but see Hiroshige's print below!). She wears a different kind of white flower on her straw hat. Her collar and the ends of her sleeves have a pink and purple design that echoes the color of the irises. She carries a Western-style umbrella in both hands (the period that irises are in bloom falls partly in the rainy season in Japan) .

[Strolling — the appearance of an upper-class wife
of the Meiji era by Yoshitoshi (1888)]

What are we seeing?

This is a print from the series Fuzoku sanjuniso or "Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners" from the late 1880s. This remarkable series features depictions of women from various social classes from the Kansei era (1789-1801) to the Meiji era (1868-1912). The Kansei era was marked by reactionary reforms introduced to correct perceived excesses, restricting trade with other nations by enforcing a stricter closed-door policy. In contrast, the Meiji era saw Japan open up to the West, even adopting some of its culture and politics. Yoshitoshi interestingly depicts this dramatically eventful history through women of different backgrounds and sensibilities.

The individual title of our print is Sanpogashitaso Meiji nenkan saikun no fuzoku or "The Appearance of an Upper Class Wife of the Meiji Era: Out for a Walk". The lady is shown in a colorful, striking Western dress walking among irises, possibly in the Horikiri Shobuen (Iris Garden at Horikiri) in the northern suburbs of Tokyo. Women strolling among the irises in this garden were often depicted in prints of the Edo period. One could see Yoshitoshi's "Upper Class Wife" as a variation on the traditional ukiyo-e prints of women dressed in the latest fashions - although the print stands out from the rest of the series where women are usually depicted nostalgically in traditional dress (it was the final one in the series). But there is no doubt that these garish garments were all the rage in 1886-9. As one contemporary observer noted: "Everyone has adopted the barbaric way of dressing: only sumo wrestlers and prostitutes still wear the old clothes." The print was very popular and was reprinted many times.

The print is in oban format and the carvers/printers used such techniques as
- Karazuri, a printing technique that creates an embossed effect by exerting strong pressure without applying ink to the woodblock. This technique creates a three-dimensional effect and brings out the unique texture of Japanese paper.
- Tsuyazumi, "gloss black", use of a glossy black ink made by mixing thick carbon ink (sumi) with rice paste.
- Itame mokuhan, "imitation woodgrain", the use of a densely grained woodblock soaked in water to emphasize the pattern of the grain.

The publisher was Tsunashima Kamekichi.

Horikiri Iris Garden

From the 17th century on, the village of Horikiri was famous for producing flowers for the Edo market. While the gardeners of Horikiri grew a variety of flowers throughout the year, the fame of the place was due to the flower represented here, a type of iris known as hanashobu, which was ideally suited to the swampy soil of the area. During the Edo period, an iris garden was established in Horikiri as a tourist attraction, and since then several iris gardens have flourished in the area. The current Horikiri Shobuen is part of Horikirien, which was the only garden to be revived after the war and is now a public park. There are 6,000 irises of about 200 species. The iris garden is at its best from early to mid-June, when the garden holds its annual iris festival.

["Horikiri Iris Garden" by Hiroshige,
from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1857)]

Famous is the above print of the Horikiri Iris Garden by Hiroshige. In the immediate foreground are three carefully detailed irises - their large size may have inspired Yoshitoshi. Seen from a low perspective, the three flowers stand out against a wide sky and river. In the distance, visitors from Edo can be seen admiring the flowers, but these figures are so small that it is difficult to make out any details.

[Horikiri Iris Park, Tokyo, as I saw it some years ago]

The Horikiri Iris Garden is indeed beautiful, although it is not blessed with the best location: one has to look down to avoid gazing at the surrounding high-rise buildings and a highway on a viaduct (which stands between the garden and the river, in what was an open landscape in Hiroshige's print). But with this small concession, one can enjoy the pleasures of the garden. It is all the more interesting when seen in a light drizzle, so that the raindrops stick to the leaves and flowers, and fall into the pools where the irises stand, creating an atmosphere of watery softness.

Irises have been cultivated in this area since at least the 17th century, and local breeders have striven to improve the flowers. Horikiri has a valuable name in irises - in the late 19th century they were even exported to Europe and America. They are still cultivated one by one by people who make it their vocation. That is why all the flowers have names, written on small plaques placed next to them - most of them poetic, borrowed from literature or history. All the irises are works of love.

There is even a haiku stone in the garden, with a poem by Matsuno Jitoku (1890-1975), a pupil of Takahama Kiyoshi, who seems to have been something of an "iris poet".

    in the sunshine
    the whiteness of the iris
    dazzles me

    tenjitsu ni | shobu no hana no | shiro mabushi

(The above is taken from my article "Irises in the Rain" on this blog)

Address: 2-19-1 Horikiri, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo. Tel. 03-3697-5237
Access: A 10-min. walk from Horikiri Shobuen Station on the Keisei Line.
Hours: 9:00-16:30 (in June: 8:00-18:00). Cl. Monday, Tuesday, 4th Sunday of the month, Year-end and New Year period. NOTE: Open every day during June (iris season).

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was an ukiyo-e artist who worked from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji era. He is considered one of the last great masters of the ukiyo-e tradition. He was born in Edo and began his artistic training at an early age. Yoshitoshi initially studied under the ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), who had a great influence on his early style.

Yoshitoshi's works are known for their dramatic and often macabre themes - works called "muzan-e", "atrocity prints", such as the collection "Twenty-Eight Famous Murders with Verse" from the 1860s, which depict several gruesome acts of murder or torture based on historical events or scenes from kabuki plays (foreshadowing the ero-guro movement in Japanese culture of the 1920s). His prints often featured intense and dynamic compositions with a strong emphasis on expressive figures and intricate details. Yoshitoshi was particularly adept at depicting historical and supernatural subjects, including warriors, ghosts, monsters and scenes from Japanese legend and folklore - showcasing his imaginative storytelling skills. But he also made more peaceful bijinga, prints with beautiful women, like the one under discussion here.

Yoshitoshi produced many series of prints and a large number of triptychs, many of which are of high quality. Two of his most famous series, "One Hundred Views of the Moon" and "Thirty-six Ghosts," contain numerous masterpieces. The third, "Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners", was for many years even considered as the most valuable. Other lesser known series also contain many fine prints.

While his prints remained in demand for a few years after his death, the general interest in them eventually waned. Academic opinion of the time claimed that Hiroshige's generation was actually the last generation of great printmakers, and more traditional collectors even collected only earlier works, ending with the generation of Utamaro and Toyokuni.

In the 1970s there was a revival of interest in Yoshitoshi's work and a new appreciation of his originality and genius and the extent to which he had succeeded in preserving the best of the woodblock print tradition while at the same time expanding the range of representation by incorporating new ideas from the West as well as his own innovations.

Since then Yoshitoshi's reputation in Japan and the West has grown again and he is now widely regarded as the greatest Japanese artist of his time.

Writers such as Akutagawa, Tanizaki, Mishima and Edogawa Ranpo preferred Yoshitoshi's prints. A modern painter inspired by Yoshitoshi is Yokoo Tadanori.