In this monograph, Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada examine kuchi-e, or woodblock print frontispieces, that decorated Japanese magazines between 1890 and 1912. In seven chapters they assess kuchi-e from various perspectives relating to historical novels, Meiji literature, and traditional folklore and customs, as well as social changes, including women’s issues. They also explore shifts in pictorial styles to provide a rich synthesis of image and literature. Merritt and Yamada assert that kuchi-e had an independent artistic value that is different from illustrations, and throughout the book they propose that, despite their seemingly minor position in the world of art at that time, kuchi-e actually played an important role in shaping the national identity among the Japanese populace when the onslaught of Western culture threatened traditional values. Through this interpretive lens, the two authors introduce the reader to much neglected aspects of the woodblock print tradition of the Meiji era and its political ends.

The emergence of kuchi-e as a genre and its intimate relationship with novels is the focus of the first chapter. Image and text grew together, the authors observe, and quietly mobilized national sentiment. These frontispieces, along with Meiji literature, provided a rich reservoir of the traditional values, feelings, and imaginations that instilled the sense of nationalism in the masses. There were two types of kuchi-e: those created for lead stories and others produced as independent pictures that had no relation to stories, with the latter category considered to be independent works of art. While the traditional multicolor woodblock print was being replaced by metal type, kuchi-e continued to be produced in high quality.

Chapter 2 focuses on the stylistic aspects of kuchi-e prints. Though the basic pictorial style the artist used was that of ukiyo-e, kuchi-e artists also employed others, including deriving images from such traditional Japanese painting styles as Maruyama-Shijo and Nanga. In addition, the Western manner of depicting figures with a sense of volume, as well as those of space and depth, were applied to the illustration of frontispieces. But developing the new painting styles was not the only challenge these artists faced. Because novels published with kuchi-e dealt with new elements in literature, such as romance and the investigation of human psychology, artists needed to explore romantic images as well as representations of men in character. According to Merritt and Yamada, however, in all of these new approaches the images remained within the parameters of Japanese tradition. Kuchi-e produced from these techniques that replaced the traditional mineral and vegetable pigments with foreign synthetic colors still maintain the look of original watercolor painting. These woodblock prints include the artist’s signature and seal, signifying their status as original prints. Sometimes the carver’s and printer’s names are also shown.

Meiji Japan experienced humiliating relations with the West, such as extraterritoriality and unfair trade relations. To counter these problems and boost their national pride, the Japanese cherished their traditional heritage and values inherent in historical fiction and legendary stories. Chapter 3 focuses on these stories from the Heian to Edo periods that had been preserved for generations. More than a dozen such stories are introduced in this chapter, with kuchi-e illustrating each story. These stories deal with certain honorable character traits and behavior that were considered models for good deeds and personal conduct, many of which related to Confucian ideals such as filial piety, duty, loyalty, devotion, and virtue. These traits and behaviors were intended to instill loyalty to family and to the emperor in the populace, thus giving political ends to familiar stories. These stories are clearly and succinctly presented with kuchi-e, a definite strength of this book.

Chapter 4 moves the focus to modern issues pertinent to Meiji society. In spite of resistance to the West, Western influence was making encroachments into Japan, and traditional values were gradually changing. While the ie system was synonymous with the nation-state and was encouraged by the government, conflict between the traditional ie system and individual freedoms increasingly widened. Writers tackled such issues through their novels and often reasserted traditional values. Merritt and Yamada present this conflict in five categorical themes, namely: “Corrupting Power of Money”; “Spread of Education”; “Effects of Higher Education for Women”; “Ideological Novels”; and “Toward Domestic Tranquility”. Kuchi-e presented in this chapter are shown to echo sentiments similar to those conveyed in stories. In expressing the conflict between Western and Japanese values, for example, realistic Western style and the traditional ukiyo-e manner of portraying characters were employed side by side by some kuchi-e artists, thus providing not only ideological but visual dichotomy.

The conflict between the ie system and individual freedom dealt with in Chapter 4 makes a smooth transition to the fifth chapter, where the difficulty that Japanese people have in expressing self and feelings is considered. The concept of romantic love, also foreign to the Japanese before this time, added a rich layer to the emotional and spiritual aspects of life. Merritt and Yamada astutely point out that Japanese writers seemed to have had a grasp of the concept of individuality that was only skin-deep, for they themselves did not seem to understand the notion of individualism. Nevertheless, even with the introduction of these Western values, traditional values were kept resiliently alive, creating a psychological dilemma that was reflected in literature. This chapter covers issues that appeared in Meiji novels dealing with the self, including marriages based upon love, sad stories that aroused sympathy and empathy, and suicides resulting from seemingly impossible situations. Just as writers had difficulty exploring the inner dynamics of the individual, portraying figures expressing the self through bodily gestures and facial expressions appeared to be a challenge to kuchi-e artists.

In contrast to the preceding three, Chapter 6 focuses on kuchi-e issued as independent images in magazines. Images of women engaged in daily tasks, festivals, and religious setting, as well as current social changes, are introduced here. These women are idealized, shown as competent and independent, unrelated to the beauties of the pleasure quarters that were stock in trade for ukiyo-e. The authors cite as evidence Kaburaki Kiyokata’s comment of 1937 that images of bijinga were similarly transformed from “sexual appeal to expressions of purity, nobility, composure, intellect, and modern aspects of women” (126). The authors attribute this change to works by women painters such as Uemura Shoen (1875–1949) and Ikeda Shoen (1888–1917). However, Kiyokata (1878–1972) should be added to this list of innovators. By 1937, he had become one of the most important artists in the genre of bijinga, and his major paintings such as Asasuzu (1925) deals with the image of well-educated young woman, while Tsukiji Akashicho (1927) portrays the image of a cultured urban woman in Tokyo.

As for women engaging in mundane tasks and traditional festivities, Japanese women portrayed in Chapter 6 as ryosai kenbo (good wife, wise mother) in kuchi-e were important in solidifying patriotism. They served this end by supporting male members in the war effort and educating children at home. Images of nurses who served in the Russo-Japanese War also helped to raise patriotic feelings within the populace, particularly among women across the country. This chapter ends with a progressive kuchi-e artist, Kajita Hanko, whose own quest for freedom and Western influence produced images of modern Meiji women.

The final chapter looks at kuchi-e artists in relation to formal Nihonga painters whose artistic lineage was not identified with that of ukiyo-e. The authors discuss the political climate in the world of art, providing a wider perspective for understanding the social and artistic positions of kuchi-e artists. Merritt and Yamada introduce Kikuchi Yosai (1788–1878) as the most influential kuchi-e artist to narrow the gap between the formal and kuchi-e artists. As a formal painter trained in the Kano tradition, Yosai developed a personal style, considered daring at that time. He accomplished this by employing various painting styles, including both the Western and the traditional. His major work, Practice of Ancient Wise Men (1836), a ten-volume woodblock-printed compilation of the biographies of distinguished rulers and servants from prehistory to the Kamakura period, crossed the Kano boundary in terms of the subject matter and technique. Moreover, it was used by the Meiji government to strengthen the sense of unity of the Japanese people under the Emperor. As were cases of many kuchi-e it also served a political end. Discussion on the role of Okakura Tenshin further provides a contrast between the more privileged formal artists and less highly respected kuchi-e painters. Despite such disadvantage, however, kuchi-e artists managed to build their reputation as bona fide artists by presenting formal paintings at major exhibitions and receiving prestigious awards. Some even broke through the negative barrier of the medium’s ties with ukiyo-e, narrowing the gap between the formal Nihonga and kuchi-e artists.

This monograph is an important addition to students interested in modern prints and their relationship with larger social forces. Its many colored illustrations are a sheer pleasure and are greatly enhanced by the authors’ interpretations. This book serves a wide range of readers including collectors, scholars, and students interested in art history, literature, social history, and women’s studies. The scholarly value of this book is also evident in the book’s supplementary material: Appendix A (Biographical Sketches), Appendix B (Facsimile Signatures and Seals), which will be a delight for print collectors, and Appendix C (Sources of the Kuchi-e), as well as the notes, glossary, bibliography, and index.