Educational Color Woodblock Prints

Full Color Prints Issued by the Ministry of Education in 1873

(文部省発行教育錦絵 Monbushō hakkō kyōiku nishiki-e)

PRINTS IN THE COLLECTION 

[BELOW PRINTS GIFTED TO THE JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON]

click on image for details

Improving the Education of Families with Young Children

In October 1873, the Ministry of Education proclaimed that it would “improve the education of families with young children” by producing “a variety of art and toy products appropriate for children soon entering schools.”1 It then issued over 100 nishiki-e (color woodblock prints) as an aid for the education of young children and for adults. The total number of prints made and distributed is unknown but there are records of the Ministry distributing seven sets to Tokyo and a set each to other regional prefectures.2 Some prints were specifically targeted for home use with pre-school age children while others were issued to make up for “the lack of textbooks in Japan.”3 

The Ministry advertised these prints "As an aid to the education of the young child (yōdō) 幼童) within the home… use these pictures as a toy when the child is sitting or lying down. And when the child reaches the age to enter elementary school, the effect will be no small matter.”4  A set of 80 prints is listed by the Ministry as costing 26 sen and six ri.5 

These prints are referred to as Monbushō hakkō kyōiku nishiki-e 文部省発行教育錦絵 (often shortened to simply Kyōiku nishiki-e 教育錦絵) which is seen variously translated into English as “Pedagogic Brocade Prints published by the Ministry of Education,” “Full-color prints issued by the Ministry of Education” and  “Pictures for Children and Home Teaching.” The prints covered subjects including the basic principles of mechanics and physics, the accomplishments of great Western inventors and authors and lessons that can be drawn from their diligence, proper moral behavior, the importance of play and home economics. Educational prints for adults were also issued, including the basics of home construction and various agricultural pursuits. 

As can be seen below, some of the prints have extensive text, to assist a parent or teacher in explaining the pictures to a child. 

More Ministry of Education Color Woodblock Prints (not part of this collection)

Origin of Subject Matter

The subject matter for many of the prints has been linked to the Chinese translation of “Chambers’s Information for the People", 1842 by William and Robert Chambers, (essentially an encyclopedia)6, and Nakamura Masanao’s Saikoku rishi hen 西国立志編, a translation of Samuel Smiles 1859 "Self-Help With Illustrations of Character and Conduct."7  

Resources for Additional Information

English Language

“A Study of ‘The Full Color Prints issued by the Ministry of Education’ in Meiji Era Japan”, Okano Motoko https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56631724.pdf [accessed 3-31-24]

Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, “Pedagogic polychrome nishiki-e prints published by the Ministry of Education,” Hirano Akira

https://www.sainsbury-institute.org/library-treasures/pedagogic-polychrome-nishiki-e-prints-published-by-the-ministry-of-education/ [accessed 3-31-24]

"Raising Subjects: The Representation of Children and Childhood in Meiji Japan," Rhiannon Paget an article from New Voices: A Journal for Emerging Scholars of Japanese Studies in Australia and New Zealand, Volume 4, 2011. https://newvoices.org.au/volume-4/raising-subjects-the-representation-of-children-and-childhood-in-meiji-japan/ [accessed 3-31-24]

University of Tsukuba Library: Educational Color Woodblock Prints  https://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/pub/kichosho/kyoiku-nishikie-eng.html [3-31-24]

Kumon Museum of Children's Ukiyo-e https://www.kumon-ukiyoe.jp/en/ 

Japanese Language

明治初期における視覚教育メディア政策の思想的背景に関する考察  “A Study on the Ideological Background about the Media Policy of Visual Education in Early Meiji Era,” Takako FURUYA, University of Tokyo, 2006. Download .pdf file KJ00004683087.pdf (1.6 MB) at https://repository.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/records/31335 [accessed 4-1-24]

近代教育錦絵の研究―『文部省発行教育錦絵』における図像解釈とその典拠  筑波大学大学院人間総合科学研究科芸術専攻 ["A Study of Modern Educational Prints: Interpretation of Images and Their Sources in 'Educational Prints Issued by the Ministry of Education'] Download .pdf file DA07005_abstract.pdf at https://tsukuba.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/33321 [accessed 3-31-24]

Images Online

University of Tsukuba Library Kyoiku Nishikie (The Full Color Prints issued by the Ministry of Education)

https://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/lib/ja/collection/rare-kyoiku-nishikie [accessed 3-31-24]

https://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/exhibition/Ibuki/nisikie/nisikie.html [accessed 3-31-24]

https://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/exhibition/bakumatu/nisikie/ijinden.html#ca [accessed 3-31-24]

National Institute of Japanese Literature https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/300008009/1?ln=ja [accessed 3-31-24]

Smithsonian Libraries https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/yoydoyjizu00utag [accessed 3-31-24]

1 "Pedagogic polychrome nishiki-e prints published by the Ministry of Education" by Hirano Akira - Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia https://www.sainsbury-institute.org/library-treasures/pedagogic-polychrome-nishiki-e-prints-published-by-the-ministry-of-education/ [accessed 4-1-24]
2  ibid.
3 “A Study of ‘The Full Color Prints issued by the Ministry of Education’ in Meiji Era Japan”, Okano Motoko, p.4 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56631724.pdf  [accessed 4-1-24]
4 "Raising Subjects: The Representation of Children and Childhood in Meiji Japan," Rhiannon Paget an article from New Voices: A Journal for Emerging Scholars of Japanese Studies in Australia and New Zealand, Volume 4, 2011. https://newvoices.org.au/volume-4/raising-subjects-the-representation-of-children-and-childhood-in-meiji-japan/ [accessed 4-1-24]
5 Paget points out that it is unknown whether this was the wholesale, re-sale or end consumer price.
6 The Japanese translation of this work, Hyakka zensho, was not published until 1876.
7 Nakamura Masanao 中村正直 (1832-1891), was a proponent of education for women and children and served as the first principal of the Tokyo Girl’s School (Tokyo Joshi Shihan Gakko).
8 op. cit. Okano Motoko

last revision:

4/06/25 added alt text

4/01/2024

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