Prints of the Meiji Era - A Reflection of Modernity

Prints of Civilization and Enlightenment (kaika-e)

The Emperor Goes Public –Introducing New Institutions

Shortly after the restoration of the emperor (Meiji Restoration) in January 1868, a new genre of woodblock prints was introduced called kaika-e, named after the national slogan of early Meiji, bunmei kaika (Civilization and Enlightenment). The issuing of kaika-e by print publishers was encouraged by the Meiji government, which also published kaika-e through its Ministry of Education, instructing students in the sciences and proper behavior.

Kaika-e depicted members of the current Imperial family (allowed for the first time) along with institutions of the new government, a newly reorganized military and its assertion of its military power in Asia, newly constructed Western-style buildings, newly introduced technology, and Western-style dress and mannerisms. They not only satisfied public curiosity, they were also “instruments of propaganda and instruction for producing – and reproducing – a new Japanese nation, identity, and concept of Self.”

“Yokohama-e and Kaika-e Prints: Japanese Interpretations of Self and Other From 1860 through the 1880s,” by Keiko Suzuki, appearing in New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan : Proceedings of the Conference on Meiji Studies, Held at Harvard University from May 4-6, 1994], Brill, 1997, P. 684.

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