, better known to his contemporaries as , was a Japanese painter and printmaker who was widely regarded as a prolific woodblock artist during the Meiji era.
Names Chikanobu signed his artwork . This was his . The artist's was ; and it was published in his obituary.See "Yōshū Chikanobu [obituary]," Miyako Shimbun, No. 8847 (October 2, 1912). p. 195: "Yōshū Chikanobu, who represented in nishiki-e the Great Interior of the Chiyoda Castle and was famous as a master of bijin-ga, had retired to Shimo-Ōsaki at the foot of Goten-yama five years ago and led an elegant life away from the world, but suffered from stomach cancer starting this past June, and finally died on the night of September 28th at the age of seventy-five. His real name being Hashimoto Naoyoshi, he was a retainer of the Sakakibara clan of Takada domain in Echigo province. After the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai and fought in the Battle of Ueno. After the defeat at Ueno, he fled to Hakodate, Hokkaidō, fought in the Battle of Hakodate at the Goryōkaku star fort under the leadership of Enomoto Takeaki and Ōtori Keisuke achieving fame for his bravery. But following the Shōgitai's surrender, he was handed over to the authorities in the Takada domain. In the eighth year of Meiji, with the intention of making a living in the way that he was fond of, went to the capital and lived in Yushima-Tenjin town. He became an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun, and on the side, produced many nishiki-e pieces. Regarding his artistic background: when he was younger he studied the Kanō school of painting, but later switched to ukiyo-e and studied with a disciple of Keisai Eisen; and next joining the school of Utagawa Kuniyoshi , called himself Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi's death, he studied with Kunisada. Later he studied nigao-e with Toyohara Kunichika, and called himself Isshunsai Chikanobu. He also referred to himself as Yōshū. Among his disciples were and as a painter of images on fans (uchiwa-e), and several others. Gyokuei produced Kajita Hanko. Since only Nobukazu now is in good health, there is no one to succeed to Chikanobu's bijin-ga, and thus Edo-e, after the death of Kunichika, has perished with Chikanobu. It is most regrettable." — trans. by Kyoko Iriye Selden (October 2, 1936, Tokyo-January 20, 2013, Ithaca), Senior Lecturer, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University, ret'd.
Many of his earliest works were signed ; a small number of his early creations were simply signed . At least one triptych from 12 Meiji (1879) exists signed .
The portrait of the Emperor Meiji held by the British Museum is inscribed .British Museum, woodblock print. Portrait of the Meiji Emperor
No works have surfaced that are signed either "Toyohara Chikanobu" or "Hashimoto Chikanobu".Library of Congress
Military career Chikanobu was a retainer of the Sakakibara clan of Takada Domain in Echigo Province. After the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai and fought in the Battle of Ueno.
He joined Tokugawa loyalists in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, where he fought in the Battle of Hakodate at the Goryōkaku star fort. He served under the leadership of Enomoto Takeaki and Ōtori Keisuke; and he achieved fame for his bravery.
Following the Shōgitai's surrender, he was remanded along with others to the authorities in the Takada domain.
Artistic career In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist. He travelled to Tokyo. He found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun.改進新聞 (かいしんしんぶん) In addition, he produced nishiki-e artworks. In his younger days, he had studied the Kanō school of painting; but his interest was drawn to ukiyo-e. He studied with a disciple of Keisai Eisen and then he joined the school of Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi; during this period, he called himself Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi's death, he studied with Kunisada. He then became the principal pupil of Toyohara Kunichika, from whom he took both the "chika" element of his art name and the Toyohara school name. He also referred to himself as Yōshū.
Chikanobu worked for at least seven publishers between the late 1870s and the mid-1880s. His output increased steadily during this period, and while his elegant figures were at times interchangeable from one print to another, he produced some of the era's most memorable triptychs.
Like many ukiyo-e artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects. His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions. As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well known for his impressions of the mie (mise en scène) of kabuki productions. Chikanobu was known as a master of bijinga (images of beautiful women), and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing. His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time. For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keiō era, 1865–1867. His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity, the artistic chaos of the Meiji period exemplifying the concept of "furumekashii/imamekashii".Miner, Odagiri and Morrell in the Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, pp. 9, 27.
Chikanobu is a recognizable Meiji period artist,Gobrich, Marius. "Edo to Meiji: Ukiyo-e artist Yoshu Chikanobu tracked the transformation of Japanese culture," Japan Times. March 6, 2009; excerpt, "We think the characteristics of the artist start to show around the late 1880s.... Before this, in his early works, he tends to imitate his teacher, Toyohara Kunichika." but his subjects were sometimes drawn from earlier historical eras. For example, one print illustrates an incident during the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake.Gobrich, "Edo to Meiji," Japan Times. March 6, 2009; excerpt, " One picture shows people escaping from a collapsing house during the Ansei Edo earthquake of 1855, which reportedly killed over 6,000 people and destroyed much of the city. What gives this image a particularly timeless feel is the fact that the noble lady of the house — in accordance with the rules of etiquette and social decorum — has taken the trouble to get into her palanquin first before being carried out of the collapsing house.." The early Meiji period was marked by clashes between disputing samurai forces with differing views about ending Japan's self-imposed isolation and about the changing relationship between the Imperial court and the Tokugawa shogunate."Yōshū Chikanobu [obituary]," Miyako Shimbun, No. 8847 (October 2, 1912). p. 195; Gobrich, "Edo to Meiji," Japan Times. March 6, 2009; excerpt, "[Chikanobu] was originally a samurai vassal of the Tokugawa Shogunate who saw action in the Boshin War (1868-69), which ended the country's feudal system." He created a range of impressions and scenes of the Satsuma Rebellion and Saigō Takamori.British Museum, Meiji shoshi nenkai kiji, 1877; woodblock print, triptych. Saigo Takamori and his followers in the Satsuma rebellion Some of these prints illustrated the period of domestic unrest and other subjects of topical interest, including prints like the 1882 image of the Imo Incident, also known as the at right.
The greatest number of Chikanobu's appeared in triptych format. These works documented the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. For example, the "Victory at Asan" was published with a contemporaneous account of the July 29, 1894 battle.
His series Chiyoda no Ōoku (1895), together with its companion Chiyoda no Omote (1897), documents court life and annual ceremonies within the women's quarters of Edo Castle before the Meiji Restoration. The women are depicted as elegant, dignified ideal figures showing little emotion, suggesting an atmosphere of quiet, harmonious order.
Among those influenced by Chikanobu were and .
Formats
Like the majority of his contemporaries, he worked mostly in the ōban tate-eThe ōban tate-e (大判竪絵) format is ~35 x 24.5 cm or about 14" x 9.75" and is vertically oriented. For further information about woodblock formats, please see Woodblock printing in Japan format. There are quite a number of single panel series, as well as many other prints in this format which are not a part of any series.
He produced several series in the ōban yoko-eThe ōban yoko-e (大判竪絵) format is ~24.5 x ~35 cm or about 9.75" x 14" and is horizontally positioned. For further information about woodblock formats, please see Woodblock printing in Japan format, which were usually then folded cross-wise to produce an album.
Although he is, perhaps, best known for his triptychs, single topics and series, two diptych series are known as well. There are, at least, three polyptychreferring in this case to more than three panels prints known.one of which is a five panel print from the series, "The Imperial Ladies' Quarters at Chiyoda Palace" entitled, konrei (こんれい) The Marriage Ceremony and there is a four panel tetraptych displaying Golden Dragon Mountain in Asakusa Park. The other is a very well known nine-panel print entitled Meiji Sanjū-Ichi-Nen Shi-Gatsu Tōka: Tento Sanjū-Nen Shukugakai Yokyō Gyōretsu no Zu (明治31年4月10日: 奠都30年祝賀會餘興行列の図), The Procession in Commemoration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Transfer of the Capital.
His signature may also be found in the line drawings and illustrations in a number of ehon (絵本), which were mostly of a historical nature. In addition, there are fan prints uchiwa-e (団扇絵), as well as number of sheets of sugoroku (すごろく) with his signature that still exist and at least three prints in the kakemono-eThe kakemono-e (掛物絵) format is ~71.8 x ~24.4 cm or about 28.3" x 9.6" and consists of two vertically positioned oban tate-e prints joined on the shorter side. For further information about woodblock formats, please see Woodblock printing in Japan format were produced in his latter years.
Selected works In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Hashimoto Toyohara, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 300+ works in 300+ publications in 2 languages and 700+ library holdings
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See also List of works by Toyohara Chikanobu List of ukiyo-e terms War artist
Notes
Further reading Cavaye, Ronald; Paul Griffith; Akihiko Senda and Mansai Nomura. (2004). A Guide to the Japanese Stage: from Traditional to Cutting Edge. Tokyo: Kōdansha. ; Coats, Bruce; Kyoko Kurita; Joshua S. Mostow and Allen Hockley. (2006). Chikanobu: Modernity And Nostalgia in Japanese Prints. Leiden: Hotei. ; ; Till, Barry. (2010). "Woodblock Prints of Meiji Japan (1868-1912): A View of History Though Art". Hong Kong: Arts of Asia. Vol. XL, no.4, pp. 76–98. ;
External links
Chikanobu and Yoshitoshi Woodblock Prints in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library Chikanobu: The Artist's Eye Chikanobu Woodblock Prints Ukiyo-e Prints by Toyohara Chikanobu Biography of Toyohara Chikanobu, Artelino
Biography of Toyohara Chikanobu, Ukiyo-e.com