Foreign Circus at Yokohama
Artist
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
(Japanese, 1839 - 1892)
Date1864
PeriodEdo period (1615–1868)
MediumTriptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
DimensionsOverall: 14 3/4 × 29 13/16 in. (37.5 × 75.8 cm)
Sheet (Left ): 14 5/8 × 10 1/16 in. (37.2 × 25.5 cm)
Sheet (Center ): 14 3/4 × 10 1/16 in. (37.5 × 25.5 cm)
Sheet (Right ): 14 3/4 × 10 1/16 in. (37.5 × 25.5 cm)
Sheet (Left ): 14 5/8 × 10 1/16 in. (37.2 × 25.5 cm)
Sheet (Center ): 14 3/4 × 10 1/16 in. (37.5 × 25.5 cm)
Sheet (Right ): 14 3/4 × 10 1/16 in. (37.5 × 25.5 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 2020
Object number2020.17
The company of Richard Risley Carlisle (1814-1874), or Professor Risley as he billed himself, was the first Western circuse to come to Japan. Carlisle and his troupe of ten acrobats and eight horses arrived in Japan in March 1864, soon after the opening of U.S.-Japanese relations. Carlisle was prohibited from touring his show in Japan and was restricted to performing in Yokohama. Nonetheless, the show sent ripple though eastern Japan and was the subject of a number of woodblock prints, including Utagawa Yoshitora’s 'Performance of Equestrian Acrobats from "Central India" at Yokohama' (see SN11640). Carlisle remained in Japan after the closure of the show and established a dairy business. A few years later, he formed a new company that toured internationally as the 'Imperial Japanese Troupe.'
On View
Not on viewCollections
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
1886
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
1887