Summary: In 1863 insurgents – advocates of an isolationist policy – fired on western vessels, including the Dutch warship Medusa, in the Shimonoseki Straits. In retaliation, the western allies mounted a military expedition to end the blockade. The Netherlands once again deployed HMS Medusa for this mission. Background I wrote previously about Ukiyo-e art in…

Woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai featuring the character Ichikawa Ebizō in a Kabuki play as a woodcutter who is actually the Priest Mongaku in disguise, as becomes revealed in the course of the play. Kabuki is a highly stylised form, with comic episodes mixed with dramatic themes. Often there is a mystical or supernatural element.…

Katsukawa Shunshō was a Japanese painter and printmaker known for his ukiyo-e style, particularly his prints of Kabuki actors and Bijin-ga paintings – paintings of beautiful women. He started life as a student of both haiku and painting. Painting drew him to become a printmaker of the actors he mixed with in the floating world…