Newly Imported Great Elephant (Shinto hakurai no daizō) 1863

*Newly Imported Great Elephant (Shinto hakurai no daizō)* is an 1863 woodblock print by the Japanese artist Ichiryūsai Yoshitoyo. The print depicts a large elephant, a rare sight in Japan at the time, being led by a man in Western clothing, likely a foreigner. The elephant is consuming sheaves of wheat and is accompanied by a Western woman and a young boy, suggesting that the creature was part of a travelling exhibition. The scene was a popular subject for *ukiyo-e* prints, as it represented Japan's fascination with the exotic during a period of rapid modernization. The dynamic composition and the use of vivid colors are characteristic of Yoshitoyo's style, known as *ukiyo-e*, a genre of Japanese art that flourished in the Edo period (1603-1868).