ADAPTATION AND ASPIRATION: CONSTRUCTING MODERN JAPAN THROUGH IDEOLOGICAL COMBAT IN SATSUMA REBELLION PRINTS Madison Alexandra Folks A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Art in the College of Arts and Sciences. Chapel Hill 2019 Approved by: Bradley Bailey Victoria Rovine Dorothy Verkerk © 2019 Madison Alexandra Folks ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Madison A Folks: Adaptation and Aspiration: Constructing Modern Japan through Ideological Combat in Satsuma Rebellion Prints (Under the direction of Bradley Bailey) Although past scholarship on Meiji-period prints has favored a clean evolution–from Yokohama-e to senso-e, samurai to soldier–this thesis considers two images of the Satsuma Rebellion that complicate both this historical transition and the art historical assessment of the woodblock medium. If the rebellion marked the “dress rehearsal” for imperial encroachment in Asia, I argue that woodblock prints offered mixed, preliminary reviews of Modern Japan. Between the eager curiosity of Yokohama-e and the self-exaltation of senso-e, Yoshitoshi and Shoso’s Satsuma Rebellion e-Sugoroku Game Board and Kunisada III’s War with the Western Nations mark the internal negotiation between competing notions of Japanese identity, as well as competing directions for the woodblock print – both in terms of pictorial style and social function. Through the analysis of sartorial vocabulary, technological innovation, and the pictorial stages on which these scenes play out, I explore this active negotiation staged through ink and paper. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, thank you to Bradley Bailey, for your shared enthusiasm, eager guidance, and mentorship on this project and beyond. To Victoria Rovine, for thorough feedback and structure throughout the writing process. To Dorothy Verkerk for following me once again into the realm of Japanese prints. Finally, to Robin Fisher Folks and Iain Carmichael, for reminding me to take the occasional break. iv PREFACE I have two notes to mention. First, as Yoshitoshi and Shoso’s Satsuma Rebellion e- Sugoroku Game Board presents a complex combination of individual compositions, I will reference Yoshitoshi’s rebel portraits in the game spaces in the fashion of a grid. Starting from the top left corner, I’ve numbered the rows 1 through 4 and labeled the columns A through F. For example, the second portrait to the left in the 3rd row will be referred to as 3B. Shoso’s central print is not included in this descriptive system. Second, I present all Japanese names in Japanese style, meaning family name first, given name second. For artists commonly known by their go or “artist’s name,” I will provide their full name in the “[family name] [given name]” format at first mention, then subsequently use their commonly used name. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: WEARING THE REBELLION .......................................................................................... 11 Fashioning the Japanese Hero ........................................................................................................ 12 Fashioning the Japanese Citizen .................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 3: TECHNOLOGIES OF TRANSITION ................................................................................ 32 Technologies of War ...................................................................................................................... 33 Technologies of Color.................................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER 4: SETTING THE STAGE ...................................................................................................... 48 Looking Out ................................................................................................................................... 49 Looking In ...................................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................... 61 FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................... 72 APPENDIX: GLOSSARY .......................................................................................................................... 92 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 93 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 – Utagawa Yoshifuji, Imported and Japanese Goods: Comic Picture of a Playful Contest of Utensils. ca. 1873. Color woodblock print triptych. Source: Meech, The World of the Meiji Print ................................................................... 72 Figure 2 – Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Mishima Shoso, Satsuma Rebellion e- Sugoroku Game Board, 1877. Color woodblock print, six joined oban sheets. Ackland Art Museum ............................................................................................ 73 Figure 3 – Utagawa Kunisada III, The War with the Western Nations: View of Shirakawa Port, 1877. Color woodblock print. Ackland Art Museum ............................ 74 Figure 4 – Detail of Shoso’s central oban print from Satsuma Rebellion e- Sugoroku Game Board ...................................................................................................... 75 Figure 5 – Uchida Kuichi, The Empress. c. 1872. Albumen print. Source: John W. Dower, "Throwing off Asia I: Chapter Four - Reinventing the Emperor," MIT Visualizing Cultures ................................................................................................. 76 Figure 6 – Detail of Yoshitoshi’s bottom right oban print from Satsuma Rebellion e-Sugoroku Game Board....................................................................................................77 Figure 7 – Yoshu Chikanobu, Illustration of the Commanders who Pacified Western Japan, Receiving the Emperor's Gift Cups. September, 1887. Color woodblock print triptych. Metropolitan Museum of Art ........................................ 78 Figure 8 – Uchida Kuichi, Emperor Meiji. c.1873. Albumen print. Source: John W. Dower, "Throwing off Asia I: Chapter Four - Reinventing the Emperor," MIT Visualizing Cultures ................................................................................ 79 Figure 9 – Utagawa Hiroshige III, Printing Tokyo Nishiki-e from the series Products of Greater Japan. August 1877. Source: Salter, Japanese Popular Prints ................................................................................................................... 79 Figure 10 – Mishima Shoso, A Congratulatory Drink of Sake from the Emperor (Tenpai): Prince Arigusawa and Other Officers Receive Recognition after the Satsuma Rebellion. October 22, 1877. Color woodblock print triptych. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ........................................................................................... 80 Figure 11 – Utagawa Hiroshige III, Picture of a Steam Locomotive along the Yokohama Waterfront. c.1874. Color woodblock print triptych. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.................................................................................................................. 81 vii Figure 12 – Adachi Ginko, Attack on Jinzhou Fortress. 1894. Color woodblock print triptych. Ackland Art Museum ................................................................................. 81 Figure 13 – Kobayashi Kiyochika, Japanese Ship Bagging Chinese Ships from the series One Hundred Choices, One Hundred Laughs. 1895. Color woodblock print. Honolulu Museum of Art ..................................................................... 82 Figure 14 – Kobayashi Kiyochika, Aimless Boats from the series Hurrah for Japan! One Hundred Choices, One Hundred Laughs. 1904. Color woodblock print. British Museum .................................................................................... 83 Figure 15 – Utagawa Yoshiiku, A Great Elephant from the series Camera Views. 1861. Color woodblock print. Philadelphia Museum of Art ............................................ 84 Figure 16 – Utagawa Kuniyoshi, No. 40, Yazama Shinroku Mitsukaze, from the series Stories of the True Loyalty of the Faithful Samurai. 1847. Color woodblock print. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ............................................................. 85 Figure 17 – Utagawa Hiroshige, View of Miho Bay in Suruga Province. c.1845. Source: Faulnker, Hiroshige Fan Prints ........................................................................... 86 Figure 18 – Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Untitled, from the series A Short History of Meiji. 1877. Color woodblock print triptych. British Museum ........................................ 87 Figure 19 – Obi (with detail of recurring pattern), Unidentified artist, late 1930s, silk. Source: Atkins, Wearing Propaganda. ..................................................................... 88 Figure 20 – Utagawa