Bijin Kuchi-e Color Offset Lithographs and Taishō-Era Popular Magazines (Updated)
OVERVIEW
The period 1914 through 1921 has been called by Kendall Brown the "'golden age' of bijin kuchi-e”.1 During this golden age (and continuing into the 1930s), thousands of inserted pictures (kuchi-e), mostly printed using metal plate lithography and photo-offset printing, were commissioned from both well-known and little-known artists by publishers of mass-market popular culture magazines (taishū zasshi). The vast majority of these illustrations depicted beautiful women (bijin) and they appeared as inserted frontispieces, illustrations to serialized novels, advertisements, promotional supplements, as well as cover illustrations.
PRINTS IN COLLECTION
COMPLETE MAGAZINES WITH BIJIN KUCHI-E INSERT
BIJIN KUCHI-E SEPARATED FROM ORGINAL MAGAZINE
Bijin in Brown Kimono (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
12 5/16 x 8 3/4 in.
(31.3 x 22.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #1616
Bijin with Sake Bowl (阿艶殿) from an unknown magazine,
printing company:Tokyo Seibidō
11 11/16 x 8 11/16 in.
(29.7 x 22.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1798
Life's Fallen Leaves (生命の落葉) from an unknown magazine
11 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.
(30.2 x 21.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #1878
Woman in Brown Kimono (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-early 1930s)
9 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.
(23.2 x 15.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1633
Woman in Blue Kimono (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
8 13/16 x 5 3/4 in.
(22.4 x 14.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1634
Modern Woman in Café (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
8 11/16 x 6 1/8 in.
(22.1 x 15.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1635
Woman in Stripped Kimono Carrying Furoshiki (untitled)
c. 1915-early 1930s
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
8 3/4 x 5 15/16 in.
(22.2 x 15.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1636
Woman Looking in Shop Window (untitled)
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
8 3/4 x 5 15/16 in.
(22.2 x 15.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1637
Woman and Caged Bird (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
7 3/16 x 4 13/16 in.
(18.3 x 12.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #1638
Modern Woman Looking in Shop Window Before the New Year (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
7 7/8 x 5 3/4 in.
(20 x 14.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1639
Woman and Child Looking at Doll Display (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
8 15/16 x 5 9/16 in.
(22.7 x 14.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1640
Woman at Beach (untitled) from an unknown magazine
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.
(35.9 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #2388
Reishō, from the magazine Fujin sekai, October 1918
publisher: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha
printing company: Tokyo Mitsuma Print Shop Rotary Offset Printing
11 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.
(30.2 x 22.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #2401a
Approval or Disapproval, from the magazine Katei zasshi (The Home Journal), Volume 2, No. 7
(家庭雑誌 第二巻 第七號)
July 1916
Ikeda Terukata (1883-1921) (reproduction of artist's original painting on silk),
publisher: Hakubunkan
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.
(36.2 x 19.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1345
Bijin in Brown Haori Over Green Kimono (untitled) from an unknown magazine
14 1/4 x 10 1/8 in.
(36.2 x 26 cm)
IHL Cat. #1786
Bijin in Black Kimono Holding Thread (untitled) from an unknown magazine
14 5/8 x 9 15/16 in.
(37.1 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #1787
An October Diary
(Jūgatsu no nikki) frontispiece appearing in the magazine Katei zasshi (The Home Journal),
publisher: Hakubunkan
14 5/16 x 7 1/4 in.
(36.4 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #2390
publisher: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha
11 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.
(30.2 x 21.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2400a
Two Women with Teapot and Books (untitled)
Noguchi Kōgai
野口紅涯, also 野口紅厓 (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
12 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.
(31.8 x 17.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1629
Woman with Letter (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Noguchi Kōgai
野口紅涯, also 野口紅厓 (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
8 1/2 x 5 9/16 in.
(21.6 x 14.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1628
Woman on a Train (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Noguchi Kōgai
野口紅涯, also 野口紅厓 (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
8 3/4 x 5 9/16 in.
(22.2 x 14.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1630
Woman and Billboard (untitled) from an unknown magazine
Noguchi Kōgai
野口紅涯, also 野口紅厓 (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
9 1/2 x 5 5/16 in.
(24.1 x 13.5 cm)
IHL Cat. #1631
"Sanuki masu," frontispiece from the magazine Omoshiro Club (面白クラブ), Volume 4, Number 3
February 1919
Noguchi Kōgai
野口紅涯, also 野口紅厓 (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
publisher: Kōdansha 講談社
9 1/16 x 5 13/16 in.
(23 x 14.8 cm)
IHL Cat. #1632
Bijin Threading a Needle (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
11 1/8 x 8 3/4 in.
(28.3 x 22.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #1793
Bijin and Cherry Tree (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
printing company: Seibidō
14 x 7 3/8 in.
(35.6 x 18.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #1794
(untitled) from an unknown magazine
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 1/2 x 7 7/16 in.
(36.8 x 18.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2386
Bijin Bowed in Prayer (untitled) from and unknown magazine,
Kondō Shiun (act. c. 1915–1940)
11 7/8 x 8 13/16 in.
(30.2 x 22.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1797
Bijin Holding a Comb Amidst Falling Cherry Blossoms (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
Kondō Shiun (act. c. 1915–1940)
11 7/8 x 8 9/16 in.
(30.2 x 21.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #1795
Bijin with Flower Arrangement (untitled) from an unknown magazine
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 1/16 x 7 5/16 in.
(35.7 x 18.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #2389
Bijin and Paper Lantern (untitled) from an unknown magazine
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 7/16 x 7 7/16 in.
(36.7 x 18.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2387
Bijinga Kuchi-e and Taishō-era Popular Magazines
"The female figure had been a prominent motif in popular Japanese art at least since the Edo heyday of Bijinga, the 'beautiful women' genre of ukiyo-e, but it gained special cachet during the Taisho, when women were finally achieving acceptance as full-fledged members of Japanese society -- especially as consumers. This period has sometimes been described as 'the age of women and children' because for the first time, those segments of the population were deemed worthy marketing targets. Women's magazines and children's picture books proliferated. . ."2
The period 1914 through 1921 has been called by Kendall Brown the "'golden age' of bijin kuchi'e”.3 During this golden age (and continuing into the 1930s), thousands of inserted pictures (kuchi-e), mostly printed using metal plate lithography and photo-offset printing, were commissioned from both well-known and little-known artists by publishers of mass-market popular culture magazines (taishū zasshi). The vast majority of these illustrations depicted beautiful women (bijin) and they appeared as inserted frontispieces, illustrations to serialized novels, advertisements, promotional supplements, as well as cover illustrations.
While employing new technology, the use of inserted pictures in both magazines and novels during this golden age was a continuation of the use of woodblock-printed multi-color illustrations in magazines and novels of the prior late Meiji period, c. 1890-1912, during which time the use of traditional woodblock printing technology for mass reproduction dramatically declined.4
Unfortunately most of the bijin kuchi-e found for sale today, as with all but a few of this collection’s prints, have become separated from the original magazines they were inserted in, making it impossible to determine what they may have been illustrating. In Kendal Brown's words, by their separation they become "unmoored from their physical context ... [where] they participated in a visual dialogue with a variety of images of women, including color cover designs (hyōshi-e), monochrome illustrations (sashi-e) in the fiction, photos of persons in the news and advertisements."5 In collecting these affordable prints, expect to see a characteristic tri-fold as many of the prints were larger than the dimensions of the magazines they were inserted into.
The Magazines
Bijin kuchi-e appeared in both general audience magazines, such as Bungei kurabu 文芸俱楽部 (Literary Club, 1895-1933, publisher Hakubunkan), Kōdan kurabu 講談倶楽部 (Storytelling Club, 1911-1962, publisher Dai Nihon Yūbenkai Kōdansha) and Kingu キング (King, 1925-1943, publisher Dai Nihon Yūbenkai Kōdansha), Japan’s first million selling magazine, and magazines specifically targeted at girls and women such as Jogaku Sekai 女学世界 (Student Girls’ World, 1901-1925, publisher Hakubunkan), Fujin kurabu 婦人倶楽部 (Women's Club, 1920-1988, publisher Kodansha), Fujokai 婦女界 (Woman's Sphere, 1910-1943, 1948-1950, 1952 Dōbunkan; later, Fujokai), Fujin sekai 婦人世界 (Women's World, 1906-1933, publisher Jitsugyō no Nihonsha) and Shufu no tomo 主婦之友 (The Housewife's Friend, 1917-2008, publisher Tokyo kaseikai; later, Shufu no tomosha ), whose monthly circulation was to reach 200,000 in 1927 and grow to over 1,000,000 in the mid-1930s.6 Between 1911 and 1930 over 200 women's magazines and journals began publication, although not all featured bijin kuchi-e.7
The Subject Matter of Women's Magazines
While the Taishō era (1912-1926) brought with it material benefits and status improvement for many women and saw the emergence of the "new woman" (atarashii onna), mass market magazines targeted for women had an ambivalent attitude about these changes.
Source:Yumeji Modern: Designing the Everyday in Twentieth-Century Japan, Nozomi Naoi, University of Washington Press, 2020, p. 102.
The types of articles then featured in women's magazines reveal the inconsistency between traditional roles for women and women's liberation. In 1920, for example, Fujin kōron (Ladies forum) published articles such as "What If Women Were Allowed in Politics?," "The Unavoidable Need for Contraception and Our Nation," and "Bad Wife, Dumb Mother" (a play on the expression ryōsai kenbo, or "good wife, wise mother"). That same year articles in Shufu no tomo (Housewife's companion) included "What Maidens Expect in Marriage," "Words of Advice for Parents: How to Ensure Your Child Enters the Best Middle School or Girls School," and "Reorganizing a Wedding Ceremony and Banquet." While feminist movements were becoming active during the first decades of the twentieth century, the above sampling of articles is indicative of what Frederick [Sarah Frederick in "Girls' Magazines and the Creation of Shōjo Identities"] describes as the contradictory content found in these publications: "They defined women's roles - housewife, school-girl, mother - in newly restrictive ways, but they also generated new possibilities for different identities."
Of course serialized novels and stories (some written by the magazine's readers) were a constant and, being commercial ventures, women's magazines “touted the newest fashions, household goods, and cosmetics” directing their readers to the department stores where these items could be bought.8
In describing the typical themes for many of the woodblock illustrations appearing in popular women's magazines in the late Meiji period, Julia Meech-Pekarik speaks of the "romantic introspection" of the women depicted, going on to say, "The stories these prints illustrate typically center on a series of incredibly fragile and beautiful women from good families who confront personal tragedy with pride and fortitude. Some are driven to avenge the death of a family member, while others commit suicide rather than compromise themselves in love."9 In looking at these Taishō era illustrations we see the persistence of these themes.
Source: Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives: Popular Portraits of Women in Japan, 1905-1925, Kendall Brown, Dover Publications, Inc., 2011, p. IX.
In Taishō kuchi-e, bijin often look out a window to a nearby landscape or to gaze at plants, pose in front of flora, or, in a few cases, pick flowers or tend them. In nearly every image there is a seasonal reference so that the woman stands for the season and for the appreciation of it. Because the clothing of the bijin is linked to the season, the relationship is harmonious. These images invoke an ideology of naturalness by which the particular construct of feminine beauty, and its associations, are naturalized - seen as existing without contrivance. Nature also may function allegorically, so that fresh snow symbolizes purity and cherry blossoms evoke transience. The typical downward cast of the eyes suggests a gaze inward, as is to imply that the lessons of the season are being internalized by the bijin, who is, fundamentally, reflective. This quality of "romantic introspection" to suggest personality and an inner life was carried over from Meiji kuchi-e, where it often expressed melancholy or world weariness.