Flight (Chinsen chihō no go-mei no Nihon-kōhei shin-hei hyaku-yo-nin o uchi shirizoku) Meiji period,

Curator: Mizuno Toshikata’s woodblock print, "Flight", depicts a scene of soldiers in action. What strikes you about it initially? Editor: It’s so dynamic! The diagonal composition and the figures caught mid-stride give a real sense of urgency, of being in the thick of it. Curator: The print's materiality, the specific papers and inks used, speaks to the resources available and the market for military prints during the Meiji era. Consider the cultural context that supported such imagery. Editor: And the almost cartoonish expressions—that panicked face! It's unsettling, but it hints at the emotional cost of conflict beyond the heroic facade. It's like a vivid, chaotic dream. Curator: Precisely. Woodblock prints were a mass medium. Toshikata’s work offered a readily accessible narrative about Japan’s military endeavors. Editor: Looking closer, the fallen soldier gives me pause... It is an arresting commentary on the true cost of war. Curator: Indeed, it encourages us to consider the layers of production, consumption, and representation intertwined within this seemingly straightforward image of "Flight." Editor: It really does provoke thought about whose stories get told and how we consume them, doesn't it?