Thursday 20 March, 2025
6:00pm GMT - 7:00pm GMT
In-person lecture at the Sainsbury Institute and online via Zoom.
50 min lecture followed by Q&A.
Free and open to all, booking essential.
To check your time zone conversion if you are joining from outside the UK, click here.
To attend in person, please email sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org or call +44 (0) 1603 597507 to book your place. Zoom booking is available at the bottom of this page.
Doors open at 17:45 and the lecture will be held at 64 The Close, NR1 4DH. Please note that in-person spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Speaker
Dr Ryoko Matsuba (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)
About the Talk
Focusing on the Meiji period (1868–1912), this paper investigates how Japanese print publishers and authors adapted Edo-period (1608–1868) formats and technologies to address shifting cultural and technological demands. When woodblock printing declined in the 1880s, publishers adopted copperplate engraving (dōban) for children’s books, combining cost-effective methods with traditional imagery. Central to this enquiry is kusazōshi, Edo-era narrative fiction that seamlessly integrated text and illustration. By examining how children’s literature facilitated the survival of kusazōshi aesthetics amid evolving print technologies, this paper reveals a continuity of format that underpinned Japan’s visual storytelling, thereby preserving Edo artistic practices into the twentieth century.
Simultaneously, the production of fukusei (facsimile reproductions) arose to meet foreign demand in the 1880s, and as domestic printmaking declined, it helped sustain traditional techniques. By charting the industry’s transformation and its innovative strategies—both domestic and global—this paper illustrates how Meiji publishers navigated rapid modernisation, upheld Edo cultural heritage, and paved the way for modern Japanese popular publications. Through this analysis, it uncovers the complex interplay of economic imperatives, cultural conservation, and technological progress that characterises Meiji printmaking’s decline, revival, and enduring survival strategies.
About the Speaker
Matsuba Ryoko specialises in Edo-period print culture. She is currently a Lecturer in Japanese Digital Arts and Humanities at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia, and will be appointed Professor at Ritsumeikan University from April 2025.
She earned her PhD from Ritsumeikan University in 2008. Ryoko was a curatorial team member for two major exhibitions at the British Museum: ‘Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave’ (2017) and ‘The Citi Exhibition Manga’ (2019), where she co-authored the exhibition catalogue. She is also coordinating a joint project between the Art Research Center at Ritsumeikan University and the Sainsbury Institute to create a comprehensive digital archive of collections of Japanese paintings, prints, illustrated books, and decorative arts in the UK. Her most recent publication, Mad about Painting (David Zwirner Books, 2023), was voted one of The New York Times best art books of 2023.
Image:
Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912)
Shin bijin (New Beauties), 1895
Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto (arcUP5223)
The Third Thursday Lecture series is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Yakult UK.