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Item Type: Antique Print
Year: c.1885 - 141 years old
Artist:
Size: 13.25" x 9.0" (34cm x 23cm)
Condition:
This colorful Meiji-era hikifuda, or advertising handbill, brings together traditional symbols of good fortune and Japan’s rapidly expanding modern industry. At the center is Ebisu, one of Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods and the deity particularly associated with commerce, prosperity, and successful business. His familiar basket overflows not with fish, but with an extraordinary assortment of matchboxes, while an elegantly dressed bijin in a red kimono looks on. The imagery cleverly transforms a centuries-old symbol of abundance into an advertisement for modern consumer goods.
Matches were a relatively new commodity in Japan, but by the late nineteenth century the country had developed a major match-manufacturing industry, producing enormous quantities for domestic use and export. The boxes pictured here display numerous competing labels and decorative designs, including Western lettering such as “STAR,” reflecting the increasingly international nature of Japanese commerce. Red lanterns, the woman’s traditional dress, and Ebisu himself retain a distinctly Japanese visual vocabulary while the products represent industrialization and expanding global trade.
Like other hikifuda, this piece was created as commercial ephemera rather than fine art intended for long-term preservation. Merchants used colorful, attention-grabbing imagery to associate their businesses with prosperity, modernity, and desirable goods. This surviving example is an especially engaging record of Meiji consumer culture, capturing the moment when traditional Japanese imagery was being enthusiastically repurposed for the new world of advertising, mass production, and international commerce.
Size: 9.0" x 13.25"
Artist: Kaburaki Kiyokata
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All of our posters are guaranteed to be authentic and as described in the product description to the best of our knowledge and belief, and in good faith. Quite simply, if you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason, simply contact us within 14 days of receipt and we'll gladly accept your return, providing the item is in the same condition as it was sent.
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Authentic Vintage Posters- RETURNS
7514 Girard Ave
STE 1615
La Jolla, CA 92037
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