Series: The Meiji period (明治時代, Meiji-jidai)
Restoration: 1868 -1912

Category: Women Samurai

Accession Number: DFJN2020PRWS004

Title (Original): 鹿児島の女戦士
Title: Kagoshima no on'na senshi
Translated Title: Women Warriors at Kagoshima

Artist (Original): アーティスト：歌川国貞III（1848-1920) 

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada III (1848-1920)
Medium: Japanese woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper
Signature: Unknown
Seal: Unknown
Publisher (Original): 表記無し
Publisher: Unknown
Engraver: Unknown
Publication Date: 1877 

Acquisition Date:     27 / 08 / 2020

Country of origin: Japan

Size: Vertical ōban. 14 x 28 5/8 (inches)

       
         
Condition: Excellent detail. Horizontal folds. Three separate panels, backed with somewhat stiff paper. A few small holes, (repaired). Slight toning and soiling, stains.

The Satsuma rebellion – Known in Japanese as the Seinan Senso or Southwestern War, the Satsuma Rebellion took place in 1877 between disaffected former samurai and Meiji Imperial forces. With the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Meiji restoration of the Emperor in 1867, the samurai class was abolished, leaving this once ruling class unemployed and impoverished. Led by former Imperial Army General Saigo Takamori, samurai from the Satsuma domain in Kagoshima rebelled against the government, leading to a series of battles that ultimately ended in the defeat of the rebels at the Battle of Shiroyama, with Saigo committing seppuku or ritual suicide. Woodblock prints of the conflict were popular, providing accounts of the latest battles to a public eager for news.

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