(Bunmei Kaika Orai)
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art of Japan
Description
"Bunmei Kaika Orai" (The Way of Civilization and Enlightenment) takes its title from the slogan of Meiji-era modernization — "Bunmei kaika" (civilization and enlightenment) was the official ideology of Japan's rapid adoption of Western technology, institutions, and customs after 1868. Kawakami's use of this phrase as a title for a print likely reflects his characteristic ironic affection for the period's enthusiastic adoption of Western things: the telegraph poles alongside temple gates, the top hats worn with hakama, the collision of worlds that Japan's modernization produced.
More Prints by Sumio Kawakami
![Title unknown [Flowers in a vase] by Sumio Kawakami](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/135636.jpg)
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
(Bunmei Kaika Orai) was created by Sumio Kawakami (川上澄生).
(Bunmei Kaika Orai) depicts urban scenes, figures, and travel scenes.