郵便報知新聞 645号|Postal Hōchi Newspaper no. 645, Englishman raping a wine shopkeeper's daughter (Yūbin Hōchi shinbun, roppyaku yonjū gogō)

Art Historical Context

This striking woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi captures a sensational news event reported in the Yūbin Hōchi shinbun (Postal Hōchi Newspaper) in August 1875. Created during Japan’s Meiji period, when the country was rapidly modernizing and opening to Western influences, the image belongs to the genre of nishiki-e shinbun, or “newspaper prints.” These colorful single-sheet illustrations brought dramatic current events—often crimes or scandals—into homes across the country, blending traditional ukiyo-e techniques with the immediacy of modern journalism. Yoshitoshi, already known for his expressive figures and bold compositions, employs vivid inks and dynamic lines to convey tension and movement on the modest sheet. The medium of woodblock printing allowed for quick production and wide distribution, making art a vehicle for public awareness at a time when literacy rates were still rising. Though the subject is disturbing, such prints reflect the era’s fascination with both foreign visitors and the shifting social landscape. Today, this work in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection offers visitors a glimpse into Meiji-era visual culture, where art documented society’s anxieties and curiosities with unflinching directness.

About the Artist

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1839–1892

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was born on April 30, 1839, in the Shimbashi district of Edo, the city that would become Tokyo. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of the great masters of the Japanese woodblock print, who gave the boy the artist name 'Yoshitoshi' as a mark of lineage within the Utagawa School. From Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi absorbed the full tradition of ukiyo-e — th...