Kiyochika: Kanda Myojin Shrine in Tokyo (Satirical View)

Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915)Title: Kanda Shrine in TokyoSeries: Kiyochika Punch (Kiyochika ponchi)   Date: Ca. 1881 An older man is grabbing in an impertinent manner the garment of an older woman  who is following a younger woman who is turned away from us. The older woman wears obvious makeup and seems happy to have been thusly accosted. Perhaps she represents a teahouse or brothel owner. The man with a large nose and a balding head is oblivious to the woes of the young girl he carries on his back, who is being strangled by the good-luck rope of a Shinto area. A boy in too-large sandals looks on curiously. Perhaps they are his children that he is ignoring, but there is probably a larger story at play. Works from this series generally have a charged political or societal critique to make, but here the underlying point seems to be lost to time, and we have only the rather funny-in-itself tableau. This series marks a turning point in Kiyochika’s career; he previously focused o