Notes

The Japanese Meiji period, defined as the period between 1868 and 1912, was an era in which artists were forced to respond to the question of how Japan should relate to the wider world? Should they be an inward-facing society, protective of its own customs and traditions? Or should it open itself up to the rest of the world, to share and be shared, making itself vulnerable to global politics?

Meiji Japan was famously the era in which, after nearly 300 years of almost complete isolation from the globe, Japan began to trade openly with Europe and the West.

Consequently, Meiji Japan saw a new flourishing in the arts, as craftsmen and artists found their work in high demand overseas. It would lead to a vast expansion in production, and the development of a new 'national' style.