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Item Type: Antique Print
Year: c.1904 - 122 years old
Artist:
Size: 9.25" x 13.75" (23cm x 35cm)
Condition:
This Meiji-era Japanese woodblock print by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915) comes from his wartime satirical series Nihon Banzai: Hyakusen Hyakushō (Long Live Japan: One Hundred Selections, One Hundred Laughs), created during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The series used dark humor and exaggerated imagery to ridicule Russia and rally popular support for Japan during the conflict.
Here, an enormous hand emerging from a Russian military sleeve reaches over the landscape below, its outstretched fingers suggesting a creature grasping for territory. The image reflects contemporary Japanese fears of Russian imperial expansion into Manchuria and Korea, regions at the center of the struggle between the two powers. The dramatically oversized hand makes the fortifications below appear small and vulnerable, turning a complex geopolitical conflict into an immediately recognizable visual metaphor.
Kiyochika was one of the most innovative print artists of the Meiji period, combining traditional ukiyo-e woodblock techniques with Western-influenced composition and distinctly modern subject matter. In his wartime prints, political commentary, caricature, and humor transformed the established Japanese print tradition into a vehicle for contemporary news and propaganda.
The Russo-Japanese War became a defining moment in modern Japanese history. Japan's eventual victory shocked many Western observers, marking the first time in the modern era that an Asian power had defeated a major European power. The conflict ended with the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, negotiated with the involvement of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the negotiations.
Widely circulated during the war, satirical prints such as this served as both popular entertainment and nationalist propaganda. Today, the work provides a fascinating record of how political anxiety, humor, and traditional Japanese printmaking intersected during a period that fundamentally altered the balance of power in East Asia.
Size: 13.75" x 9.25"
Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika
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