temporary exhibition

Finished exhibitions

5th Exhibition

Woodblock Prints Depicting Catfish

Publications from the Collection of the Printing Museum, Tokyo

Jan. 18, 2011 (Tue) - Apr. 10, 2011 (Sun)
10:00 - 18:00

Our curators have searched through the Printing Museum's collection to find a variety of rare and surprising prints to display in this mini-exhibition held in a corner of our regular exhibition space.

Directly following the Great Earthquake that devastated Edo in October of 1855, vast numbers of multi-colored woodblock prints depicting catfish sold wildly throughout the city. These namazu-e, or "catfish pictures", were produced without the permission of the Tokugawa shogunate, which took immediate steps to ban them, but in the mere two months in which they were available more than 200 versions seem to have been printed.

Our Fifth Exhibition features prints in a great variety of styles to reveal the charm of catfish pictures. The exhibition also introduces the social background of the day and the contemporary state of printing and publishing in order to cast a light on how it was possible for so many prints to be created in such a brief period of time and to give an understanding of how namazu-e were received by the populace of Edo.

Schedule

Jan. 18, 2011 (Tue) - Apr. 10, 2011 (Sun)

Closed

Mondays(However open on May 21), May 22

Hours

10:00 - 18:00

Admission

Adults: 300 yen
University students: 200 yen
High school and junior high school students: 100 yen
Children up to elementary school age (12 years old): free
* Admission charges may change during Temporary Exhibitions.
*50 yen discount per person in groups of more than 20 people
*Free admittance to senior citizens (65 years and over)
*Free admittance to visitors holding handicapped-persons' cards and their attendant

Organizer

Printing Museum, Tokyo, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.

5th Exhibition Woodblock Prints Depicting Catfish Publications from the Collection of the Printing Museum, Tokyo
Jan. 18, 2011 (Tue) - Apr. 10, 2011 (Sun)
10:00 - 18:00
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