Organized by the SOAS Japan Research Centre, Professor Ryo Akama (College of Letters/Director of the ARC) will give a lecture on The End of Actor Prints (役者絵): How did the Meiji era's actor prints disappear? in London on February 21, 2024.
The event is open to the public, and held both in person and online. → Register here.

Date: 21 February 2024
Time: 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm (GMT)
Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings, SOAS University of London
Room: Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT)

About this event:

With the ongoing boom of Hokusai and the growing popularity of Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi, Ukiyo-e has received unprecedented attention in Japan.

In terms of research, the growth of online Ukiyo-e databases has released the field from the monopoly of art historians and has made it a research resource for various fields of Japanese studies. As a result, the number of research themes dealing with Ukiyo-e has expanded remarkably, and the number of researchers looking into prints of actors has increased, which have traditionally received less attention than prints of beauties and landscape prints.

Despite the increased interest in history of actor prints, there seems to be no study that mentions how or why actor prints disappeared in the late Meiji to Taisho eras. This period is an important turning point not only in the history of prints, but also in the history of theatre and the diversification of media. This presentation will discuss how and why actor prints disappeared during the Meiji and Taisho periods.

Organiser: SOAS Japan Research Centre (JRC)
Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk

Register here: https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/end-actor-prints-yizhehui-how-did-meiji-eras-actor-prints-disappear