KIDA, Seizaburo; KAWANABE, Kyosai (illus.).

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Minken hizakurige ("Yaji and Kita Meet the People's Rights Movement"). First edition of this biting political satire, produced in opposition to the growing calls for democracy and civil rights in Meiji-period Japan. It was published only one year after the government issued an imperial rescript promising to establish a national assembly. We have traced three institutional copies: the Diet Library, Kagawa University, and Waseda University.In Minken hizakurige, the famous stock comedy characters Yaji and Kita visit a "People's Rights" politician called Usoda Bunmei (literally translated "Lying Civilisation") and an official named Kyuryo Masuda. Over the course of their discussion they mock and cajole Usoda into revealing that his actions do not match his words, and in fact he only uses them for self-serving reasons. This view of politicians was common in the 1880s, as universal suffrage was heavily opposed by powerful oligarchs who argued that the movement towards "civilisation" was in fact a ploy to introduce barbarism to Japan from the West.The illustrations were provided by Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889), "among the most versatile and talented artists of the late nineteenth century" (Jordan, p. 306). At age six he started his art training under Utagawa Kuniyoshi, before progressing to become a member of the Kano school until 1852. Over his career he collaborated with authors such as Kanagaki Robun, took Josiah Conder as his pupil, and advised Ernest Fenellosa. His work was also

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