Toyohara Chikanobu

Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延 1838 - 1912), better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu (楊洲周延), was a prolific woodblock artist of Japan's Meiji period

In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist He travelled to Tokyo He found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun In addition, he produced nishiki-e artworks In his younger days, he had studied the Kanō school of painting; but his interest was drawn to ukiyo-e He studied with a disciple of Keisai Eisen and then he joined the school of Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi; during this period, he called himself Yoshitsuru After Kuniyoshi’s death, he studied with Kunisada He also referred to himself as Yōshū

Like many ukiyo-e artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well known for his impressions of the mie (mise en scène) of kabuki productions Chikanobu was known as a master of bijinga images of beautiful women, and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keiō era, 1865-1867 His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity, the artistic chaos of the Meiji period exemplifying the concept of "furumekashii/imamekashii"


"The Korean Uprising of 1882" — woodblock print by Chikanobu
Chikanobu is a recognizable Meiji period artist, but his subjects were sometimes drawn from earlier historical eras For example, one print illustrates an incident during the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake The early Meiji period was marked by clashes between disputing samurai forces with differing views about ending Japan's self-imposed isolation and about the changing relationship between the Imperial court and the Tokugawa shogunate He created a range of impressions and scenes of the Satsuma Rebellion and Saigō Takamori Some of these prints illustrated the period of domestic unrest and other subjects of topical interest, including prints like the 1882 image of the Imo Incident, also known as the Jingo Incident (壬午事変 jingo jihen) at right

The greatest number of Chikanobu's war prints (戦争絵) sensō-e appeared in triptych format These works documented the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 For example, the "Victory at Asan" was published with a contemporaneous account of the July 29, 1894 battle

Among those influenced by Chikanobu were Nobukazu (楊斎延一) Yōsai Nobukazu and Gyokuei (楊堂玉英) Yōdō Gyokuei

Works:
"Ouchu of Chiyoda" Collection of the large-scale Tokyo National Museum
"Ouchu of Chiyoda" Collection of Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library
"Tokyo non-shinobi Big Race Show" Collection of the Tokyo National Museum
"Emperor Honorable Imperial Family Tokyo National Museum Collection
"Twelve people picture" Collection of Shizuoka prefectural central library
"Waizaku" Collection of Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library
"Sino-Japanese War" Collection of the National Diet Library
"Schematic illustration of Takashi Kan Butsu 3 large sheets continued Collection of Kobe museum museum
"Warriors of Kagoshima" Collection of Waseda University Library Meiji 10 (1877) March 23
"Kagoshima conquest" Collection of the National Diet Library Meiji 10 (1877)
"Theory of Conquest of Korea" Collection of the National Diet Library Meiji 10 (1877)
"Setsuki flower" Collection of Shizuoka prefectural central library Meiji 17 (1884)
"Eastern Kinky Day and Night Competition Tamado al Front" Ukiyo-e Original Otaka Memorial Museum Collection of Meiji 19 (1886) The Ukiyo-e prints the old letter "day" of "day"
"Eastern Kinky Day and Night Competition Kanemonji" Kanemuraji (Hino City) Collection
"East Nishiki day / night competition" Collection of Shizuoka prefectural central library Meiji 19 (1886)
"East Nishiki Day and Night Competition" Collection of the Tagi Museum of Art, Yamaguchi Pref, Urakami Memorial Museum Meiji 19 (1886)
"Wooden hair style drawing" Shizuoka prefectural central library collection 1887 (1887)
"European Orchestra accompaniment figure" Ukiyo-e Collection of Ota Memorial Art Museum Meiji 22 (1889)
"The flower of the warm East" The third shogun Old shogunate Otori Ryunosuke town Omoto Nohmeshi Figure "Collection of the Ukiyo-e Art Okita Museum of Art In the Meiji era (1889)
"Edo period twelve months old inside" Collection of the Shizuoka prefectural central library Meiji 22 (1889)
"East Familiar Fukukushi" Collection of the National Diet Library Meiji 22 (1889)
"East Familiar" Collection of the Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library Meiji 23 (1890)
"Female ceremony" held in Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library Meiji 23 (1890)
"Phantom lamp portrait" Yaguchi Prefecture Tagi Museum of Art and Temple of the Urakami Memorial Building Meiji 23 (1890)
"Shinto Shintaku Esthetic dictionary" Collection of the Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library Meiji 24 (1891)
"Yoshika Nijyotaka Impression God" Yukoji Temple (Hino City) Collection
"Waizaku" Shizuoka prefectural central library collection 1892 (1892)
"Mitsujuji" Collection of the National Diet Library Meiji 26 (1893)
"Diagram of Tokugawa period ladies" Collection of Shizuoka prefectural central library Meiji 27 (1894)
"Japanese name woman" Yaguchi prefecture Tagi Art Museum • Urakami Memorial Museum Collection 1894 (1894)
"The Seasonal Writing" of the National Diet Library Meiji 27 (1894)
"Atsuma" Collection of Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library Meiji 29 (1896)
"Time Kagami Meiji charity meeting" Ukiyo-e Collection of the Ota Memorial Art Museum Meiji 30 (1897)
"Chiyoda Yoshio table" Collection of the Shizuoka prefectural central library Meiji 30 (1897)
"Setsuki flower" Collection of the National Diet Library Meiji 33 (1900)
"Phoenix Car Imperial Palace Departure Plot" Meiji 26 (1893) Collection of the British Library
"White tiger corps" Kanemugiji (Hino city) collection
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