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Very good. Some wear along the fold lines. Size 8 x 60 Inches. This is a beautiful 1930 (Sh?wa 5) set of views of scenic sites in Japan drawn by Yoshida Hatsusabur?, perhaps the most prominent Japanese viewmaker of the early 20th century. It was published as a supplement to Housewife's Friend (????), a popular monthly women's magazine. The views show the 'New' Eight Views of Japan, a cultural phenomenon at the intersection of national identity (or nationalism), mass media, mass consumption, and tourism, all of which flourished in this period. A Closer Look These views were published in the wake of a 1927 campaign by the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun , Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun , and the Railway Ministry of Japan, that aimed to select lists of beautiful and famous scenic sites in Japan, running a selection process for three distinct groups: the 'New' Eight Views of Japan (?????), the Twenty-Five Winning Sites (??????), and the One-Hundred Sites of Japan (????). The 'New' Eight Views of Japan were so named to distinguish them from 'old' sets of Eight Views described by poets and depicted by artists in earlier periods, such as the Eight Views of Kanazawa, themselves influenced by a Chinese tradition of Eight Views dating back to the Song Dynasty (akin to efforts to create new lists or variations of the Eight Wonders of the World). The newspapers polled their readers to choose one of ten sites in eight different categories - mountains, valleys, waterfalls, hot springs, lakes, rivers, coasts, and plains. Sites that had already been nationally and internationally recognized for centuries, such as Mt. Fuji and the traditional Three Views of Japan (???? Matsushima Bay, Amanohashidate, and Itsukushima), were excluded. The campaign was extremely popular, and as controls had not been introduced to prevent cheating, localities related to candidate sites sometimes attempted underhanded schemes to increase their vote count. In the end, the campaign received some 100 million votes, far exceeding the entire population of Japan at the time, and the organizers felt justified in overruling voters by selecting Kamik?chi in the valleys category over the leading recipient of votes, Tenry? Gorge (???). The ultimate list of the 'New' Eight Views depicted here are, from right to left: Top Row Plains: Karikachi Pass (Hokkaid?) ??? Waterfalls: Kegon Falls (Tochigi Prefecture) ??? Rivers: Kiso River (Aichi Prefecture) ???, also known as the 'Japan Rhine' (?????) Mountains: Mt. Unzen (also known as Mt. Onsen, literally 'Mt. Hot Spring') (Nagasaki Prefecture) ??? Bottom Row Lakes: Lake Towada (Aomori and Akita prefectures) ???? Valleys: Kamik?chi (Nagano Prefecture) ??? Coastlines: Cape Muroto (K?chi Prefecture) ??? Hot Springs: Beppu Hot Springs (?ita prefecture) ???? At top-right is a panel titled 'One brush stroke to accompany the picture' (???????), written by Yoshida to describe the selection of the Eight Views and venerate the sites chosen. On the recto, panels provide a tourist guide (????) for each site, including photographs. The art deco advertisements on the recto and verso highlight the connection between the 'New' Eight Views, tourism, and consumerism. The recto advertisement is for a portable phonograph produced by Seik?sha (???), a subsidiary of the Seik? conglomerate. On the verso is a cosmetics advertisement for 'Master' brand whitening powder (?????????), which, like Housewife's Friend , was geared towards married women. The text of the advertisement includes a supposed interview with a typical housewife, one Katakami-san, touting the powder. The Views in Context The selection of the 'New' Eight Views coincided with wider social, economic, and political processes, including mass consumption, the development of Japan's national park system, the maturation and integration of Japan's passenger rail network, the growth of domestic tourism, and a coalescing of national identity. After considerable lobbying from citizens' groups, a National Parks Law.
Seller Inventory # JapanEightViews-yoshida-1930
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