1859 Sadahide Ukiyo-e View of Shimonoseki and Environs, Japan

A scarce 1859 ukiyo-e triptych of the Kanmon Straits (also known as the Straits of Shimonoseki) where the islands of Honshu and Kyushu meet, produced by Sadahide, one of the most popular ukiyo-e artists of his time.

A Closer Look

Oriented towards the west, this view displays the area along the shores of the 600-meter wide Kanmon Straits, modern-day Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki, which at that time was a constellation of neighboring ports and villages. Many temples and shrines are noted, most of which are still extant, including the Kameyama Hachimangu (亀山八幡宮), the castle-like structure at right, Nakayamadera (中山寺), and Hofukuji (法福寺). Neighborhoods (町) and streets (目) are labeled along both sides of the Straits, as are islands (including Ganryū-jima, 岩流島), rocks, and coastal banks. Fishing and trading boats appear in great numbers, particularly on the Shimonoseki side of the Straits. Nagato (長門), on the northwest side of Honshu, is referred to in the background.

Battleground for Japan's Modernization

Though appearing tranquil here, this region and Japan as a whole were in the midst of a crisis brought on by the country's forcible opening to foreign trade in the preceding decade. The ruling Tokugawa Shogunate appeared incapable of responding to the crisis, providing an opportunity to provincial daimyo who had long chafed at their rule, including the powerful lords of Chōshū Domain in western Honshu. Although the Shogunate belatedly organized missions to study foreign technology and military science, the daimyo and samurai of Chōshū Domain and nearby southern domains had already begun to produce their own Western-style cannons during the 1850s, and soon afterward purchased their own foreign warships. As discontent with the Tokugawa grew, a movement to expel the 'barbarians' and 'restore' the emperor gained momentum, especially in Chōshū and neighboring southern domains.

When Emperor Kōmei issued an order to expel the barbarians in 1863, Chōshū Domain responded by firing on foreign warships sailing through the Straits of Shimonoseki. In the following months, American and British warships were attacked while transiting the Straits, with the British launching a successful campaign to capture Chōshū Domain's gun batteries. Afterward, the samurai and daimyo of Chōshū turned their ire more directly at the Tokugawa, launching a failed effort to seize Kyoto in August 1864 and openly rebelling against the Shogunate. Although these early efforts failed, Chōshū men were in the lead four years later when the Meiji Emperor was successfully 'restored' and the Tokugawa overthrown. In the decades afterward, Chōshū samurai, who had resisted foreign invasion, fully embraced foreign technology and influence as leaders of the Meiji government, modernizing Japan in the span of a generation.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn by Sadahide and published in 1859 by Seibundō (正文堂), an Edo-based printer of ukiyo-e works. The triptych here forms the right-hand side of a rare six-panel piece (hexaptych) titled 'View of Famous Places in the Western Inland Sea' (西国内海名所一覧), referring to the Seto Inland Sea which lies to the east of the Straits of Shimonoseki. The left three panels of the entire work cover the southern part of the Straits, today the urban center of Kitakyushu. The work is very rare; it is only noted among the holdings of the Kitakyushu City Museum of Natural History and Human History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, both of which hold the entire hexaptych.