WORK IN PROGRESS
Volume 1 of Ashura-chō—the first in a five-volume work—features 100 satirical sketches by Itō Chūta, the renowned architect and founding figure of architectural history in Japan. Each sketch is accompanied by commentary from a range of contemporary Japanese luminaries, offering pointed reflections on World War I—the so-called "war to end all wars"—with particular emphasis on Japan’s role, especially its military campaign against Germany in Shandong, China.
The volume opens with a sketch dated July 28, 1914, titled The Outbreak of War Between Austria and Serbia, marking the official start of hostilities. Over the span of 99 subsequent sketches and 150 days, the series traces global and domestic developments, concluding on December 25, 1914, with Dissolution of the Imperial Diet (Teikoku Gikai). In this final image, a quarrelsome group of frogs is herded by a large toad—Itō’s pointed satire of Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu’s decision to dissolve the Diet amid parliamentary deadlock.
For an overview of the entire five volumes go to Ashura-chō 阿修羅帖 (The Ashura Notebook).
Frontispiece seal
阿修羅帖
Ashura-chō
click on image to enlarge
色はに不へと散りて行く榮枯の跡をそのまくに寫し出せる修羅の劇敵も味方も國運を賭けて爭ふいくさの渦に捲き込まれたる全世界天柱折けて重轟く巨砲地維欽けて漲る鯨波櫛の歯を引く注進に心も筆も躍らせて描き續けたる諷刺の漫畫積りし数の二百まて集めてこーに第貮巻成りてこし方見かへきは早五とせもの今日越えて長き夢みしゑひもせす
大正九年七月
伊東忠太
Colors scatter and fade, vividly revealing the drama of Ashura—a spectacle of rise and fall. The entire world, both friends and foes, is drawn into the whirlwind of war, gambling their nations’ destinies. Heaven’s pillars collapse under roaring cannons; the earth trembles beneath advancing waves of armored warriors. Spurred by urgent news arriving in rapid succession, my heart and brush danced, continuously sketching two hundred satirical cartoons. Looking back on the path traveled, it has already been a full five years since that day, yet it feels like a long dream without awakening.
July 1920 (Taishō 9)
Itō Chūta
Sketch images our shown left to right
