Yoshitoshi’s Strange Tales: Woodblock Prints from Edo to Meiji

In 1868, family lore is that my great great great grandmother and her daughter fled in the dark of night with their faithful retainer down the Tokaido Road from Edo to Kambara-​Cho. The Tokugawa shogunate was collapsing, and those stalwart loyalists who remained with the final shogun until his last days had lost everything, including their lives. The two females were the last survivors of their family. Another samurai family were also fleeing — that family sailed to California and established the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony at Gold Hill — the first Japanese immigrants to the United States. After 700 years of isolation, the above reflects the upheaval that took place in Japan with the advent of the Meiji era.
Those changes are reflected in the woodblock prints created by Yoshitoshi. Through his art, one can see the rapid westernization of Japan during the Meiji and Taisho eras — in the dresses worn by the women in the Emperor’s court to the plaid shawl draped around a geisha’s shoulders. Also revealed are the vestiges of old Japan, such as the intricate tattoos that adorned the bodies of men.
A separate body of Yoshitoshi’s work are illustrations of local «ghost stories» and folklore, manga-​esque in their presentation, tying this exhibit with the nearby Tezuka exhibit.
Albeit Yoshitori had access to modernized chemical colors that were not available to his predecessors, but even given that, the prints are extraordinary. Each color on a woodblock print requires its own cherrywood carving; the multiple blocks painstakingly aligned to produce the final print. Only 200 prints could be produced from each set of carved masters. Yoshitori’s prints were so detailed that they included shadows and the illusion of diffused light. In an attempt to produce a more realistic rendering of congealed blood, Yoshitori mixed glue with crimson paint and went so far as to produce a separate block for the red of the blood to create the special effect.
Yoshitori’s «ghost stories» are a little freaky — he did suffer two bouts of mental illness in his 20’s. The son of a wealthy merchant who purchased samurai status, his family disintegrated when the Emperor ascended to rule Japan. An «orphan», he was kept alive by a faithful woman who sold everything she had and eventually went to work in a brothel to care for him. And from what is known about him, the cad sort of moved on when he found success in his 30’s. Whatever his personal life, it did not affect his gift.
The exhibit will be available through September 2. You can walk around the room in less than ten minutes, or you can spend an hour closely inspecting each print to gain a real appreciation of Yoshitoshi’s artistry. I recommend the latter. Both the art and life of Yoshitoshi are fascinating.