1866 Tsukioka Woodblock Ukiyo-e Triptych of French Ships Leaving Port

A scarce, vivid ukiyo-e woodblock triptych from the last days of the Tokugawa or Edo period. This is Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's c. 1866 view of ships in a French port. It fits squarely within prints of the era focusing on foreigners (a topic of great curiosity in Japan at the time) but is unusual for depicting a purely foreign scene rather than the more common subject of foreigners in Yokohama.

A Closer Look

Three panels in the ukiyo-e style present a view of a French port, with a city at right in the distance and a dock at left. People of different social classes and genders look on and converse in the foreground. The ships are notable for combining steam power and sails. Though the title mentions trade with 'various nations' (諸國), a Japanese viewer might imagine that these ships would be bound for Yokohama or one of Japan's other treaty ports.

Depicting Foreigners and Foreign Scenes

This view is related to Yokohama-e (橫濱繪), a genre of ukiyo-e woodblock prints depicting foreigners and the cultural interactions between Japan and the outside world that took place in Yokohama, Japan's most prominent treaty port. However, it is atypical in that it portrays a purely foreign scene, set in France (though it does retain a common motif of Yokohama-e, with onlookers standing in front of ships departing for or arriving from a distant foreign land).

End of an Era

This triptych was published in the final days of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600 - 1868), also known as the Edo period or Edo era. Already beset by problems of famine, unrest, low tax revenues, and dynastic succession, the Tokugawa Shogunate was flung into crisis by the gunboat diplomacy employed by Western nations, beginning with the United States of America in 1853 - 1854. With several Japanese ports forcefully opened to foreign trade, most notably Yokohama, near Edo (Tokyo), Japan entered a tumultuous, dynamic period defined by social unrest, violence, and new influences from abroad.

Though the Tokugawa tried to adapt to the new circumstances, such as selectively adopting foreign military technology, the crises unleashed by the arrival of foreigners opened up possibilities for opponents of the regime to strike. Southern samurai, capitalizing on discontent against the Tokugawa, were able to lead a revolution promising to 'restore' the emperor (based in Kyoto) to centrality in the country's political system. The Tokugawa fought on (with French assistance), even after losing their capital city, but were ultimately unable to resist the modernized military of the reformers or the popular anger at their inability to confront foreign threats.

Publication History and Census

This ukiyo-e woodblock print was drawn and engraved by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) and published by Iseya Kisaburō (伊勢屋喜三郎). Though not written here, it is generally dated to 1866 (Keiō 2). The only known institutional holdings of the view are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Kobe City Museum.