About This Image

In this Japanese woodblock print we see a young woman hanging flags of various countries in front of a photographic portrait of Emperor Meiji. The photo of Meiji was taken by Uchida and was one of the few authorized photos of the emperor, as he hated to have his picture taken.

Toshikata seal - lower right. Format: Kuchi-e, the front piece for a Japanese novel. By the 1890s the ukiyo-e woodblock prints were falling out-of-fashion. The kuchi-e took over as a new way to incorporate woodblock prints into the production of popular novels and literary magazines. Toshikata ived in Tokyo. He first learned woodblock printing from Taiso Yoshitoshi, then studied Japanese-style painting with Watanabe Shotei.