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( Will be closed on March 8,15,23rd)
①Edo as Seen by Ryoma
●Utagawa Hiroshige “ One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Samezu Coast at Minami
Shinagawa”
In 1853, the year when Ryoma visited Edo for the first time,
black ships called kurofune led by
Commodore Matthew Perry arrived at the port in Uraga. This print depictsShinagawa Coast, an area
where Ryoma performed his guard duties.
[Introduction]
●Utagawa Hiroshige “Celebrated Places in Edo :
Autumn View at Takanawa”
This print depicting Takanawa was created in the same year as Ryoma’s arrival in Edo. At the time, travelers to Edo on the Tōkaidō Road entered Edo City by first passing through the Takanawa area. Thus, this is believed to be the landscape that Ryoma encountered
upon entering Edo for the first time.
●Utagawa Hiroshige "Celebrated Places in Edo: Edobashi Bridge"
This print, also created when Ryoma was in Edo, depicts the Edo-bashi Bridge that Ryoma is said to
have crossed everyday en route to his fencing school Chiba Sadakichi. In the distance, one can seeNihonbashi BridgeEdo Castle and Mt.Fuji.
●Fujiwara Inosuke "Sakamoto Ryoma played by Ichikawa Tsurugoro"
Translation supervised by Princeton University Language Project
●Utagawa Kuniyoshi “Miraculous Pictures by Ukiyo Matabei Brings
the Painted Characters to Life”
At first sight, this is a caricature which
depicts the portraits of kabuki
actors playing the characters of Ōtsu-e, but it was said that this picture mocked the figure of the Shogun in a panic when the black ships
of Matthew Perry arrived at Uraga.
③Rare Portrait of Kabuki Actor Playing Ryoma
During the turbulent period of late Edo, artists created many ukiyo-e (wood block prints). The ukiyo-e prints in this exhibition portray the appearance and village life of the Edo period from various angles, depicting Edo society in which Sakamoto Ryoma worked to overthrow the Shogunate and create a modern Japanese government.
Ryoma departed his hometown, Tosa (in present day Kōchi Prefecture) during the years 1853～1854 and 1856～58 in order to receive training in fencing in Edo. During this time period many ukiyo-e prints depicting the landscape of Edo were created, allowing us over a century later to view the Edo that Ryoma saw.
The difficulty during the Edo Period to openly illustrate the political and social issues led to the production of many caricatures which attempted to indirectly express these. Especially in the late Edo Period, works which ridiculed the policies of the Tokugawa Shogunate or focused on various conflicts and affairs were frequently published. Through these caricatures in the late Edo Period, we will introduce the wave of history that the common people in Edo experienced.
This is the portrait of a kabuki actor which was published when the play of Sakamoto Ryoma was performed in KōchiCity in 1887. Here Ryoma is depicted making a fresh resolve to make a better country as he grasps a cord dyed by the blood of his friend who had committed hara-kiri suicide in the Iguchimura Incident. This work, found in recent years, is regarded as a valuable work depicting Ryoma’s role played by a kabuki actor.
●Kawanabe Kyosai “Maritime Safetyi”
In 1863, Tokugawa Ieshige, who was
in Kyoto, returned to Edo by a
steamship called Jundōmaru. The picture depicts Jundōmaru advancing to Edo while being protected by divine beings. Ryoma is also known to have boarded this steamship several times.
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