Trade and Movement of Goods
Print culture in Japan served not only to document commodities but also to shape how goods were seen, valued, and consumed. From tea catalogs to textile pattern books and beer advertisements, the objects in this case reveal how trade goods were embedded in shifting notions of taste, identity, and national power. Although trade across East Asia dates back millennia, commercial exchange between Japan and the West began to grow from the 17th century and intensified at the turn of the 20th century. With objects and knowledge flowing between Japan, broader Asia, and the West, print media itself became a commodity, as demand for Japanese goods expanded. These publications offer a window into the commercial world of Japan, its transnational material culture, and the global trade networks that developed from the movement of goods.
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Kogetsu 湖月 (active 19th century)
“Seven Types of Tea Bowls” (Vol. 1, above) and “Foreign Wares” (Vol. 3, below)
Chake suikozatsu 茶家醉古襍 (Repertory of Tea Masters’ Intoxication with Antiques)
Kyoto: Ōmiya Satarō, 1843
Call Number: tK53
Over the course of five detailed volumes, this woodblock-printed tea utensil catalog depicts the various local and foreign tea bowl styles central to Japanese tea practice, known as chanoyu. Chanoyu gave rise to an enduring cross-cultural movement of ceramics, as Japan adopted Chinese and Korean styles to suit local aesthetic sensibilities. However, by highlighting Japanese-made Raku wares (above) over imported wares (below), the catalog reveals the shifting tastes and commercial values for Japanese-made tea bowls in the early 19th century.
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Iwasaki Tsunemasa 岩崎常正 (1786–1842)
“Botan” 牡丹 (Peonies)
Honzō zufu 本草圖譜 (Illustrated Materia Medica), Vol. 6
Tokyo: Honzō Zufu Kankōkai, 1916
Call Number: D1484
Honzō zufu is a pictorial botanical manual published in 1916. This woodblock-printed illustration depicts a peony blossom and bud with accompanying text that describes Japan’s reception of this flower, which was imported from China and first cultivated in Japan’s Chikuzen Province (present-day northern Kyushu). During the limited trade between China and Japan in the 14th–17th centuries, Japan exported sulfur, lumber, and porcelain to China and imported copper, silk, and flowers from China.
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Gotō Ryūkō 後藤龍光 (dates unknown)
Sekai sarasa 世界更紗 (World Sarasa)
Kyoto: Honda Ichijirō: Hatsubaijo Honda Unkindō, 1903
Call Number: E3578
This Japanese design sample book from 1903 published in Kyoto, a former hub of the cotton trade, features the domestic remake of sarasa, an imported Indian cotton textile made of vibrant colors and complex patterns using madder and indigo dyes. Drawn from Indian and Persian carpet motifs, the designs in this book reflect early 20th-century Japan’s growing taste for novel textiles and situate the reinterpretation of sarasa within a global dialogue without identifying their historical origins.
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“Advertisement for Sapporo Beer”
Nipponchi 日ポンチ (The Land of Japan), Vol. 14
Tokyo: Tōyōdō, 1905
Call Number: C22350
The satirical magazine Nipponchi published its fourteenth issue in April 1905 to boost Japanese morale during the Russo-Japanese War. The red-and-white advertisement on the right depicts Sapporo Beer in the guise of Japanese soldiers repelling foreign brews. The five-pointed star, replacing the rising sun on the military flag, represents Sapporo Beer’s trademark. This illustration encapsulates the tension between imported and domestic beer, demonstrating Japan’s burgeoning ambition to rival Western powers in both commerce and military strength.
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Ikeda Eisen 池田英泉 (dates unknown)
Jinbutsu gafu 人物画譜 (Manual of Figure Painting)
Osaka: Matama Yasujirō, 1901
Call Number: B18407
This woodblock-printed drawing manual from 1901 offers artists examples of traditional Japanese figures, mythological characters, and Westerners. A bustling street scene features Western-style weapons, umbrellas, hot air balloons, and figures in a combination of Western and Japanese-style dress. Boys and soldiers wear Western uniforms, while women pair kimonos with fringed shawls. These illustrations reveal the presence of Westernization, which the imperial Japanese government had been promoting since the 1870s.