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
Fujin sekai (Women's World), April 1918
Cover "Before the Marriage" by Akashi Seiichi (act. c. 1910-1930s)
Insert "Reishō" by Ikeda Terukata (1883-1921)
IHL Cat. #2400
Fujin sekai (Women's World), Autumn Special Issue, October 1918
Cover "Harimono" by Suzuki Noriko (active c. 1918)
Insert "Reishō" by Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
IHL Cat. #2401
Katei zasshi (The Home Journal), Volume 2, Number 6, June 1, 1916
Cover "Early Summer" by Saitō Ioe (1884-1966)
Insert "Visit" by Yamamura Kōka (Toyonari) (1885-1942)
IHL Cat. #2663
Katei zasshi (The Home Journal), Volume 2, Number 7, July 1, 1916
Cover "Swans" by Sugiura Hisui (1876-1965)
Insert "Approval or Disapproval" by Ikeda Terukata (1883-1921)
IHL Cat. #2664
BIJIN KUCHI-E SEPARATED FROM ORGINAL MAGAZINE
click on image for additional information or detail
Onatsu Kyōran (Onatsu's Madness),
c. 1914-1921
7 9/16 x 10 in.
(19.2 x 25.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1871
Bijin in Brown Kimono (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1930s
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,
c. 1915-early 1930s
printing company:Tokyo Seibidō
11 11/16 x 8 11/16 in.
(29.7 x 22.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1798
Onshi no musume (恩師の娘) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1930s
11 13/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(30 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #1861
Life's Fallen Leaves (生命の落葉) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
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)
from an unknown magazine
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)
from an unknown magazine
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. #1637
Woman and Caged Bird (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
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
Morita Hisashi (active c. 1910s-1930s)
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
Bijin in Brown Haori Over Green Kimono (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
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),
Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1915
publisher: Hakubunkan
14 5/16 x 7 1/4 in.
(36.4 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #2390
Reishō from the magazine
Fujin sekai, April 1918
publisher: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha
11 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.
(30.2 x 21.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2400a
Bijin with parasol in snow (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
anonymous (unsigned)
11 11/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(29.7 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2411
Bijin Reading (untitled) from an unknown magazine, c. 1915-early 1930s
Ikeda Shōen (1886-1917)
14 7/16 x 7 5/16 in.
(36.7 x 18.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #2394
Festival of Dolls (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
Shiizuoka Shōka (?-?)
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 3/8 x 7 7/16 in.
(36.5 x 18.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2393
Two Women with Teapot and Books (untitled)
from an unknown magazine
c. 1920-early 1930s
Noguchi Kōgai (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
12 1/2 x 6 3/4 in.
(31.8 x 17.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1629
The Bottom of Tears (涙の底 Namida no soko)* from an unknown magazine
c. 1920-early 1930s
Noguchi Kōgai (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
8 1/2 x 5 9/16 in.
(21.6 x 14.1 cm)
*title taken from pencilled notation on verso
IHL Cat. #1628
Trap (罠 Wana)* from an unknown magazine
c. 1920-early 1930s
Noguchi Kōgai (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
8 3/4 x 5 9/16 in.
(22.2 x 14.1 cm)
*title taken from pencilled notation on verso
IHL Cat. #1630
Peeping (のぞき Nozoki)*
with signboard for the mechanical puppet play The Love Suicide of Osome and
Hisamatsu from an unknown magazine
c. 1920-early 1930s
Noguchi Kōgai (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
9 1/2 x 5 5/16 in.
(24.1 x 13.5 cm)
*title taken from pencilled notation on verso
IHL Cat. #1631
Sanuki masu 讃岐桝* frontispiece from the magazine Omoshiro Club (面白クラブ), Volume 4, Number 3
February 1919
Noguchi Kōgai (b. c. 1899, active 1919-1930s)
publisher: Kōdansha 講談社
9 1/16 x 5 13/16 in.
(23 x 14.8 cm)
*title taken from pencilled notation on verso
IHL Cat. #1632
Bijin Threading a Needle (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1920s
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,
c. 1915-early 1930s
printing company: Seibidō
14 x 7 3/8 in.
(35.6 x 18.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #1794
Bijin at the Seashore
(untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
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,
c. 1915-early 1930s
Kondō Shiun (act. c. 1915–1940)
11 7/8 x 8 13/16 in.
(30.2 x 22.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1797
Bijin with Fan
(unread title 框茸髢の匂)
from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
Kondō Shiun (act. c. 1915–1940)
10 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.
(26.4 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1800
Bijin Holding a Comb Amidst Falling Cherry Blossoms (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1930s
Kondō Shiun (act. c. 1915–1940)
11 7/8 x 8 9/16 in.
(30.2 x 21.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #1795
Bijin Adjusting Hair (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early1930s
Terashima Shimei (1892-1975)
11 13/16 x 8 5/8 in.
(30 x 21.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #1868
Bijin Holding Magazine (untitled) from the magazine Kōdan zasshi (published by Hakubunkan)
1915-early1930s
attributed to Morikawa Seiha
森川青玻 (?-?)
(signature of this unknown artist trimmed from image)
13 1/2 x 6 15/16 in.
(34.3 x 17.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1867
Tranquil 長閑
from the magazine Katei zasshi (The Home Journal)
(published by Hakubunkan)
April 1916
Uemura Shōen (1875–1949)
14 5/16 x 7 1/4 in.
(36.4 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #2384
Autumn [Exhibition] in Ueno
(Aki no Ueno) appearing in Fujokai (Woman's Sphere),
Vol. 22, No. 4
October 1920
Publisher: Fujokaisha
Kurihara Gyokuyō (1883-1922)
11 5/8 x 8 in.
(29.5 x 20.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #1875
Morning from the magazine Fujin sekai, Vol. 15, No. 10,
October 1920
Kurihara Gyokuyō (1883-1922)
Publisher: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha
11 11/16 x 8 1/2 in.
(29.7 x 21.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #2408
Bijin Leaning on Railing (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
Masuda Gyokujō (1881-1955)
14 3/16 x 7 7/16 in.
(36 x 18.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2383
Bijin embroidering (untitled) possibly appearing in Fujin sekai,
c. 1915-early 1930s
Masuda Gyokujō (1881 - 1955)
i11 5/8 x 8 9/16 in.
(29.5 x 21.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #2409
Bijin with Flower Arrangement (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
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
c. 1915-early 1930s
printing company: Tokyo Seibidō
14 7/16 x 7 7/16 in.
(36.7 x 18.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2387
Bijin Gazing into Garden (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early1930s
14 1/2 x 7 3/8 in.
(36.8 x 18.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #2385
Bijin Gazing into Garden (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early1930s
14 x 7 1/2 in.
(35.6 x 19.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1344
Bijin with Parasol and Mount Fuji
(untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
13 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.
(33.3 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1863
Bijin with Pink Bow, (untitled)
from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early1930s
unread artist
11 3/8 x 8 11/16 in.
(28.9 x 22.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1796
Two Western Women on Deck Lounge Chairs, (title unread)
from an unknown magazine, 1919
unread artist
7 13/16 x 10 3/16 in.
(19.8 x 25.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #1792
たそがるゝ丘 (Tasogare no oka) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
12 1/16 x 8 9/16 in.
(30.6 x 21.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #1799
Bijin in Brown-stripped Kimono with Three Ginko Leaves (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
11 13/16 x 9 5/8 in.
(30 x 24.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1877
Crying at Night (夜なく聲 Yoru naku koe) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
Kitano Tsunetomi (1880-1947)
9 3/16 x 6 7/16 in.
(23.3 x 16.4 cm)
IHL Cat. # 1791
Bijin in Green Kimono with Shimadamage Hairstyle (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
11 9/16 x 8 1/2 in.
(29.4 x 21.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1865
Bijin in Blue Kimono with Parasol (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early1930s
anonymous artist
13 1/8 x 7 1/8 in.
(33.3 x 18.1 cm)
IHL Cat. #1864
『御用盜異聞』のお龍
(Goyōtō ibun) 2nd chapter in the novel Kurama Tengu by the author Osaragi Jirō (1897-1925), 1924-1925
unread artist
13 5/8 x 7 1/4 in.
(34.6 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1870
Bijin in Purple Kimono with Pagoda in Background (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
11 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.
(28.3 x 20.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #1866
Bijin and Man with Orange Lanterns,
(untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
11 5/8 x 8 9/16 in.
(29.5 x 21.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #1872
Bijin in Kimono Touching Up Lipstick (untitled) from an unknown magazine,
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
13 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.
(34.9 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1869
Visit from the magazine Katei zasshi
(The Home Journal), Volume 2, No. 6
(家庭雑誌 第二巻 第六號)
June 1916
Yamamura Kōka (Toyonari) (1885-1942)
Publisher: Hakubunkan
14 5/8 x 7 5/16 in.
(37.1 x 18.6 cm)
IHL Cat. #2392
『暴風雨前後』の靜子
(Storm all around Shizuko),
from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
13 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.
(34.3 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1873
Bijin with Falling Cherry Blossoms
(untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist seal
13 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.
(34.3 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1876
Bijin in Purple Kimono with Sake Cup and Cherry Tree (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread artist
13 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.
(34.3 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #1874
Bijin with White Chrysanthemums (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unread signature and seal of artist
printing company:
Tokyo Seibidō
14 7/16 x 7 1/4 in.
(36.7 x 18.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #2382
Bijin in Front of Shoji
(untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
unidentified artist, signed 百合
printing company:
Tokyo Seibidō
14 3/8 x 7 3/8 in.
(36.5 x 18.7 cm)
IHL Cat. #2391
Bijin in windy landscape (untitled) from an unknown magazine
c. 1915-early 1930s
Kawabata Ryūshi (1855-1966)
11 1/2 x 8 1/4 in.
(29.2 x 21 cm)
IHL Cat. #2410
Pet Dog 愛犬
appearing in Shufu no Tomo Vol. 18 No. 1
January 1, 1934
publisher: Shufu no Tomo Co. Ltd
image: 13 15/16 x 17 7/8 in.
(35.4 x 45.4)
sheet: 14 1/4 x 18 1/16 in.
(36.2 x 45.9 cm)
IHL Cat. #2460
Sighting of a Bird (鳥影 Torikage)
from an unknown magazine
c. early 1930s
printer: 美術印刷株式會社印
image: 9 7/8 x 7 13/16 in.
(25.1 x 21 cm)
sheet: 10 7/8 x 8 1/4 in.
(27.6 x 21 cm)
IHL Cat. #2412
Untitled, cover for Rekishi Shashin, Issue No. 169, July 1927
sheet: 8 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. (21.9 x 30.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2726
Untitled, cover for Rekishi Shashin, Issue No. 211, December 1930
sheet: 8 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. (21.9 x 30.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2727
Untitled, cover for Rekishi Shashin, Issue No. 282, November 1936
sheet: 8 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. (21.9 x 30.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2728
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.
Magazine Supplements
Magazine supplements, along with product giveaways, reader contests and even magazine sponsored beauty pageants were all part of increasing circulation. In the early 1930s two competing women's magazines, Shofu no tomo and Fujin kurabu 婦人倶楽部 (Women's Club), entered into what has been called the "supplement wars" 付録合戦. Subscribers could be sure of receiving frequent supplements ranging from reproduced photographs of famous places; to instructions on child rearing, sewing or knitting; to paper board games (sugoroku); to reproduced original artwork, often featuring beautiful women.
The below two supplements to Shufu no tomo are typical of the efforts to maintain and gain readership.
Collection of Masterpieces of Beautiful Women in Summer Dress on Shikishi, a August 1932 supplement to the magazine Shufu no Tomo (The Housewife's Friend)
Eight bijin-ga printed on shikishi (a square cardboard with paper adhered to the front), designed by eight leading nihonga painters, were included in this August 1932 supplement. The eight prints, reproduced from original artwork using photolithography, came in the decorative envelope seen below. The back of the envelope contained a cosmetics advertisement by Club Cosmetics Company, an important revenue source for women's magazines.
The eight prints and artists as they are listed on the front of the envelope
涼風 中村大三郎 先生 Cooling Breeze, sensei Nakamura Daizaburō (1898-1947)
鷺娘 鏑木清方 先生 Heron Maiden, sensei Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972)
浴後 伊東深水 先生 After the Bath, sensei Itō Shinsui (1898-1972)
果物 木谷千種 先生 Fruit, sensei Kitani Chigusa (1895-1947)
愛犬 細木原青起 先生 Pet Dog, sensei Hosokibara Seiki (1885-1958)
汽車の旅 高畠華宵 先生 Train Trip, sensei Takabatake Kashō (1888-1966)
濱風 田中比左良 先生 Sea Breeze, sensei Tanaka Hisaro (1890-1974)
涼宵 山川秀峰 先生 Cool Evening, sensei Yamakawa Shūhō (1898-1944)
Envelope Front
Special supplement for “Shufu no tomo” August, 1932 (Printed in Japan)
IHL Cat. #2665
夏姿美人畫の傑作色紙集
Collection of Masterpieces of Beautiful Women in Summer Dress on Shikishi
主婦之友 (八月號)第一附録)
Shufu no tomo (August) Supplement No.1
IHL Cat. #2665
Envelope Back
Special supplement for “Shufu no tomo” August, 1932 (Printed in Japan)
IHL Cat. #2665
皮膚の若返りに, 日ヤケ止めに
Skin Rejuvenation, Sunburn Protection
クラブ美身クリーム
Club Bishin Cream (Club “Beautiful Body” Cream)
清々しい夏化粧
Refreshing summer makeup
クラブ美身クリームの若々しい, 清々しい色艶, 滑かな肌ざわり
目ざむるばかりの清楚な美 活き〱とたし化粧映え
The youthful, fresh color and lustrous, smooth texture of the Club's Bishin Cream...
クラブ白粉
Club Oshiroi (Club "Face Powder")
Cooling Breeze 涼風, 1932
Nakamura Daizaburō (1898-1947)
10 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(25.6 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2665a
Heron Maiden 鷺娘, 1932
10 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(25.6 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2665b
Pet Dog 愛犬, 1932
Hosokibara Seiki
(1885-1958)
10 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(25.6 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2665e
Train Trip 汽車の旅, 1932
Takabatake Kashō (1888-1966)
10 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(25.6 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2665f
Sea Breeze 濱風, 1932
Tanaka Hisaro
(1890-1974)
10 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(25.6 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2665g
Cool Evening 涼宵, 1932
Yamakawa Shūhō (1898-1944)
10 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(25.6 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2665h
Publishing Information
Bottom Margin of Envelope Front
主婦之友
Shufu no tomo
第十六巻第八號 附録發行
Vol. 16, No. 8, Published as a supplement
(昭和七年七月八日印刷納本 昭和七年八月一日發行)
(Printed on July 8, 1932 and issued on August 1, 1932)
編輯兼發行人 兼印刷人 八代登
Editor, publisher and printer Yashiro Noboru*
(發行所) 主婦之友社
(publisher office) Shufu no tomo company
*Yashiro Noboru (?-?), a graduate of Waseda University, took over publishing responsibility for Shufu no tomo in the spring of 1923 and assumed editing responsibility in 1926.
Publisher's Seal (Appearing on four of the prints)
主婦の友
Shufu no tomo
八月號附録
August Supplement
第十六巻第八號
Volume 16, Number 8
主婦の友社發行
Publisher: Shufu no tomosha
Modern Meiji Beauty (Snow, Moon and Flowers), a 1935 New Year's supplement to the magazine Shufu no Tomo (The Housewife's Friend)
This set of three, forty-two inch long, color lithographs titled Snow, Moon and Flower, depicting three beauties, was issued as a New Year's supplement. The prints are part of a long tradition in ukiyo-e using the theme of setsugekka (snow, moon, flowers) as visualized through images of beautiful women. The word setsugekka is derived from a poem by the famous Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi containing the phrase, "I remember you especially when the snow, moon, and flowers are beautiful," 雪月花の時 最も君を憶う.
Each print provides a commentary on the artist and print in the top margin. For Kaburaki Kiyokata's Moon, below center, in which the subject gazes out into a mist obscuring the moon, the commentary reads: No one but a great artist like Kiyokata could have captured the lyrical mystery of an exceptional beauty, one whose countenance evokes the mysterious luminosity of a misty moonlit night. This work exceeds even the superb artwork that Kiyokata had previously submitted [perhaps the reader knows that the jury awarded it a top prize] to the Imperial Art Exhibition.10
Snow: A Modern Meiji Beauty,
a supplement to the magazine Shufu no Tomo
(The Housewife's Friend)
主婦之友附録 明治風俗美人「雪」
January 1, 1935
publisher: Shufu no Tomo Co. Ltd
image: 41 x 9 3/8 in.
(104.1 x 23.8 cm)
sheet: 42 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.
(108 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2104
The Moon: A Modern Meiji Beauty,
a supplement to the magazine Shufu no Tomo
(The Housewife's Friend)
主婦之友附録 明治風俗美人「月
January 1, 1935
publisher: Shufu no Tomo Co. Ltd
image: 41 x 9 3/8 in.
(104.1 x 23.8 cm)
sheet: 42 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.
(108 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2105
Flower: A Modern Meiji Beauty,
a supplement to the magazine Shufu no Tomo
(The Housewife's Friend)
主婦之友附録 明治風俗美人「花」
January 1, 1935
Yamakawa Shūhō (1898-1944)
publisher: Shufu no Tomo Co. Ltd
image: 41 x 9 3/8 in.
(104.1 x 23.8 cm)
sheet: 42 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.
(108x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2103
Installation view of the exhibition "Blooming of Japanese Modernism," Hibiya Library & Museum
June-August 2018
Newspaper Supplements
In the early years of the Taishō era (1912-1926), newspaper publishers began to issue frequent supplements to their regular editions. The supplements were used to advertise special events and commemorate anniversaries with the intent of increasing sales and enhancing the small size of the their papers (generally 4 to 8 pages). Not subject to the news cycle, they could be prepared and composed in the off-hours. With the advent of the changeover to rotary offset presses capable of faithful reproduction of artistic work during the early Taishō era newspapers such as the Jiji shinpō 時事新報 and Yomiuri Shimbun 讀賣新聞 extended their supplemental offerings to the ever-popular bijinga genre, as shown below.
Bijin in black kimono (untitled) - a New Year's supplement to the newspaper Niigata Nippō
January 1917
publisher: Niigata Nippōsha
18 1/2 x 13 1/16 in.
(47 x 33.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2102
Blue Eyebrows (Aomayu),
a supplement to the newspaper Jiji shinpō (Current Events)
青眉 時事新報付録
June 1927
Tanaka Hisara 田中比左良 (1890-1974)
publisher:Jiji Shinpōsha 時事新報社
image: 13 7/16 x 9 1/4 in.
(34.1 x 23.5 cm)
sheet: 14 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.
(36.8 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2511
Ukigumo (Floating Cloud), New Autumn Beauty Contest
a supplement to the newspaper Jiji shinpō (Current Events)
浮雲 新秋美人競
時事新報付録
1927
Kitazawa Rakuten 北澤楽天 (1876-1955)
publisher:Jiji Shinpōsha 時事新報社
image: 13 7/16 x 9 1/4 in.
(34.1 x 23.5 cm)
sheet: 14 1/2 x 9 15/16 in.
(36.8 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2510
Shinsō (Secluded Inner Room)
a supplement to the newspaper Jiji shinpō (Current Events)
深窓 時事新報付録
1927
Kakiuchi Seiyō 柿内青葉 (1892-1982)
publisher:Jiji Shinpōsha 時事新報社
image: 13 7/16 x 9 1/4 in.
(34.1 x 23.5 cm)
sheet: 14 1/2 x 9 7/8 in.
(36.8 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2512
Chigusa no Niwa a supplement to the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun
千草の庭 讀賣新聞付録
September 1, 1934
publisher: Yomiuri Shimbun
image: 13 1/8 x 9 1/2 in.
(33.3 x 24.1cm)
sheet: 13 15/16 x 9 15/16 in. (35.4 x 25.2 cm)
IHL Cat. #2509
Yomibito (讀み人), New Year's Day Appendix to the newspaper Fukuoka Nichi Nichi Shinbun
福岡日日新聞
January 1, 1929
[verso: 木谷千種女史筆
from the brush of Miss Kotani Chigusa]
publisher: Fukuoka Nichi Nichi Shinbun 福岡日日新聞
printer: 古屋熊三郎
10 9/16 x 9 5/8 in.
(26.8 x 24.4 cm)
IHL Cat. #2112
National Foundation Day, supplement to an unknown newspaper, c. early 1930s
紀元節 Kigensetsu
Nishida Seiha 西田青坡 (1895-1979)
image: 10 1/2 x 7 7/16 in.
(26.7 x 18.9 cm)
sheet: 11 5/16 x 8 3/8 in.
(28.7 x 21.3 cm)
IHL Cat. #2407
National Foundation Day
The peaceful village by the sea is charmingly wrapped in the scent of plum blossoms. The sky on National Foundation Day is beautiful and serene, the slopes are quiet, and above the peaceful blue barley fields on the hills, the heat haze wavers gently. The sound of a nightingale can be heard somewhere in the distance. The Hinomaru (national flag of the rising sun) sways from every eave. "In the spring of the founding of the nation, did the plum blossoms scent the air and the nightingale sing?" the girl asks, questioning herself and her heart.*
* a loose translation of the text in the left margin of the print "National Foundation Day."
Increasing Literacy and Economic Security for Women
The great increase in literacy among women, ushered in by the Ministry of Education’s 1872 compulsory education ruling, specifying that both girls and boys should receive elementary education, along with the growth of private and missionary schools, coupled with improved economic situations for many women in the cities, “allowed an increasing number of women to purchase magazines.”11
While the targeted women’s magazines initially looked to middle and upper class women for readership, they also found an audience with working-class women and women living in rural areas. And, while the vast majority of readers were women, these magazines also attracted curious men.12
Teaching Young Girls to Write, c. 1915
Source: Oregon State University Special Collections Item Number: P217:set 060 008
The Artists
From the best-known artists of the day, such as the painter and print designer Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972) and the painter and shin hanga artist Itō Shinsui (1898-1972), to artists working in relative obscurity, the large number of designs required for magazines demanded a large pool of artists to draw from. Both more traditional nihonga (Japanese style) and yōga (Western style) painters found work as illustrators.
As noted by Kendall Brown, magazine illustrations provided fertile ground for women artists, providing a “critical social space, as well as an economic base.”13 Among the female artists creating bijin kuchi-e, perhaps the two best known are the nihonga style painters Uemura Shōen (1875-1949) and Shima Seien (1892-1970). (See examples below.) Another well regarded woman nihonga artist, Kitani Chigusa 木谷千種 (1895-1947), who at the age of thirteen was sent to study Western style painting in Seattle for two years, created numerous illustrations several of which can be seen above.14
Artists received relatively low pay for creating an illustration, so they had to work quickly. The artist Hirezaki Eihō 鰭崎英朋 (1880-1968), represented by several prints in this collection, noted that it took him from one to five hours to create an illustration for a magazine. The pay received for designing these illustrations varied according to the artist’s popularity and the magazine commissioning the work. Kendall Brown cites fees being paid during the late Meiji and early Taishō period of three to fifteen yen per illustration, a relatively low amount.13 Despite the modest fees paid, the number of illustrations required by these very popular magazines could provide significant income for many artists.
The Evolution of Printing Technology and Taishō era Kuchi-e
By the end of the Meiji era (1867-1912), woodblock printing as a means of duplicating text and illustrations for mass distribution was near dead and relegated to the niche markets of making copies of classic ukiyo-e designs and producing deluxe prints targeted at collectors. In a modernized Japan, woodblock printing was considered old-hat by the public, enticed by newer technologies such as lithography and the realism of photography.
Source: Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives: Popular Portraits of Women in Japan, 1905-1925, Kendall Brown, Dover Publications, Inc., 2011, p. XV.
To fully appreciate Taishō kuchi-e, we need not only know their literary content and social context but also understand the technologies used in their production. These technologies were not simply expedient means of mass production, but, in fact, were part of a visual revolution that included the desire to reproduce perfectly the images created by designers, the skilled artistry of master printers, and the creation of luxury prints meant to function as de facto works of art...
The Japanese had used stone lithography since 1874, and copperplate intaglio printing soon afterward. Zinc plate lithographic processes were deployed in the 1880s and 1890s, with photographic collotype printing developed around 1890. By 1902 three-color (red, yellow, blue) chromolithography was deployed, beginning in Bungei Kurabu. Kiyokata adapted it for his kuchi-e in 1905. In that same year, the Marinono rotary magazine printing machine was imported to Japan, allowing for much faster printing. Soon after, the American Rubel rotary press using a rubber sheet was also imported, producing high-quality color printing even on the coarse paper commonly used for mass-circulation magazines. A version of the rotary offset press was manufactured in Japan in 1913, making the technology more affordable. From around 1914, planographic offset lithography using lighter zinc and aluminum plates, rather than heavy, brittle stone plates, made printing easier and cheaper.16
During the early Taishō era, the production of these bijin kuchi-e lithographs was similar to the production process for woodblock prints, involving an artist/designer, under contract to a publisher, who created a design, often a painting, which was hand-copied by artisans onto a metal plate, one plate for each color (analogous to the use of multiple carved woodblocks, essentially one for each color, in the traditional woodblock print-making process) and then printed. Later on, the hand-drawing process would be replaced by faster photomechanical processes.
For prints in this collection that show the name of the printing firm, usually printed in extremely small type near the edge of a print and shown as enlargements to the left, the most frequently appearing is that of Tokyo Seibidō Rotary Offset Printing 東京精美堂ロータリーオフセット印刷, possibly associated with the publisher Hakubunkan.
The Demise of Bijin Kuchi-e
While the bijin genre, buoyed by the shin hanga movement and its combining of traditional ukiyo-e motifs and traditional woodblock printing methods, coupled with the techniques of modern Western painting, (an alluring combination for foreign collectors), continued well into the 1930s, by the mid-1920s bijin kuchi-e were in decline, as explained by Kendall Brown.
"It is hard to pinpoint any one reason for the decline of the genre, but bijin kuchi-e well may have been the victim of their own earlier success. Once nearly every magazine featured them, bijin kuchi-e became overly familiar and their appearance marked a magazine as old-fashioned and unfashionable.... [B]y the last years of Taishō, ending in December 1926, bijin kuchi-e were considered staid at best, retrograde at worst."17
1 Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives: Popular Portraits of Women in Japan, 1905-1925, Kendall Brown, Dover Publications, Inc., 2011, p. xvii.
2 "Young Moderns: Taisho-Era Design at the Hibiya Library & Museum" by Alan Gleason appearing in Artscape Japan, a monthly English web magazine. [accessed 10-1-23]
3 op. cit. Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives
4 For more information on woodblock kuchi-e see Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints: Reflections of Meiji Culture, Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada, University of Hawaii Press, 2000
5 op. cit. Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives, p. IV.
6 Circulation figures taken from Wikipedia "Shufu no Tomo" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shufu_no_Tomo [accessed 1-8-23] and Women's Magazines and the Democratization of Print and Reading Culture in Interwar Japan, Shiho Maeshima, University of British Columbia, August 2016, p. 4. [A Doctoral Thesis which may be found online at https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0314161] [accessed 1/8/23]
7 “Josei: A Magazine for the ‘New Woman’”, KazumiIshii appearing in Intersections, August 2005 (an electronic journal Australian National University) http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue11/ishii.html [accessed 1/8/23]
8 Graphic Propaganda: Japan’s Creation of China in the Prewar Period, 1894-1937, a dissertation, Scott E. Mudd, University of Hawai’i, August 200, p. 64. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/11659 [accessed 1/8/23]
9 The World of the Meiji Print: Impressions of a New Civilization, Julia Meech-Pekarik, Weatherhill, 1986, p. 217.
10 With great thanks to Lynn Katsumoto, translator and Japanese art historian.
11 "Around 1905, perhaps related to the wave of patriotic fervor that swept through Japan at the time of the war with Russia, school attendance figures shot up to nearly universal levels for both boys and girls for the first time." - Source: "Who Can't Read and Write? Illiteracy in Meiji Japan", Richard Rubinger, appearing in Monumenta Nipponica, Summer, 2000, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Summer, 2000), Sophia University, pp. 163- 198; quote on p. 182 Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2668426 [accessed 1/8/23]
12 See Gender, Consumerism and Women’s Magazines in Interwar Japan, Barbara Sato, Routledge Handbook of Japanese Media, February 2018
13 op. cit. Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives, p. XVI.
14 For a biography of this artist see the website of Kagedo Japanese Art https://www.kagedo.com/kitani-chigusa-painting-of-a-beauty-contemplating-her-reflection?rq=Chigusa [accessed 1/8/23]
15 op. cit. Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives, p. XVI.
16 In 1914 the first offset litho printing in Japan was carried out by Shōsandō (Mizuno Gukichi). It had been invented in the United States in 1906 and then developed in Germany. It allows three-color printing, a clear impression even on poor paper, and economy in the use of printing ink. [Source: Being Modern in Japan, Culture and Society from the 1910s to the 1930s, Ed. Elise K. Tipton and John Clark (Appendix, Chronology, Japanese Printing, Publishing, and Prints, 1860s-1930s, John Clark)
17 op. cit. Dangerous Beauties and Dutiful Wives, p. XV.