Utashige (1 results)

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. This fascinating set of prints includes ten nishiki-e diptychs depicting seemingly innocent scenes of children playing a variety of games. All of the themes of the prints in this collection, however, satirise the Boshin War, a civil war that broke out in 1868 between the army of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Satsuma and Choshu clans (which later became the new Meiji government). Most of the prints give no information on their artists or publishers to escape censorship and oppression. The latest news and criticism of the war were skillfully weaved into these prints of innocent children, making them special examples of works that were only published during this period. The set includes the following colour woodblock-printed diptychs: Kodomo Shibai Chushingura: Yodan ("Children's Performance of 'The Treasury of Loyal Retainers,' Act Four"), Kodomo Asobi Natsu no Sakae ("Children at Play: The Height of Summer Activity"), Hana Ikusa Warabe no Tawamure ("Battle of Flowers, a Children's Game"), Kodomo Takeuma Asobi ( "Children Playing on Stilts"), Kodomo Asobi ("Children at Play"), Kodomo Asobi Doro Kassen ("Children at Play: A Mud Fight"), Oyama no Nushi wa Ore Hitori ("I'm the King of the Castle"), Kodomo Asobi Takara no Atarimono ("Children Playing for Treasures"), Kodomo Asobi Chikara Kurabe ("Children at Play: A Wrestling Match"), and Kodomo Asobi Ude Kurabe ("Children at Play: Comparing Strength").   Ten sets of diptychs. Minor wormholing and trimming. Diptych leaves pasted together at extremities. Overall very good. Each diptych measures approximately 35 x 47 cm. Text in Japanese.