-From the International Christian University Museum Hachiro Yuasa Memorial
Museum Collection
Utagawa Hiroshige III
1868
This is satirical a satirical print of the Boshin War. It was published in October 1868.
The war is represented a snowball fight between children, with the shōgunates army on the right and the new government’s army on the left represented respectively. The child on stilts in the far left represents Arisugawanomiya, who is carrying Emperor Meiji on his back. The Yonezawa Domain, Sendai Domain, and Aizu Domain were suppressed in September consecutively. The Morioka Domain surrendered on September 28 waiting the complete surrender of the northern domain’s to the new government. This work symbolizes Edo people’s wish for the shōgunate army to make a turnaround in the Tohoku region, although the region had already been under control of the new government by the time the print was published. It suggests that satirical prints were not mere sources of information but reflective of political sentiments within the common population.