Printing the Disaster. A Visual Exploration of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake
2023 24 Hour Comic, reworked and expanded. First published by Wasshoi!
Almost all the images are based on photographies and prints:
PAGE 1:
Unknown Photographer/Publisher: Tokyo Tsukiji Riverside cracks, 1923 (?)
PAGE 2:
Sam Mory/Getty Images: Australian Firefighters battle a spot fire in Hillville, Australia, 2019
Unknown Photographer/Publisher: Taisho Era, 12th year, Sept. 1, 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. Ueno-Hirokoji Street, Ueno Park, 1923 (?)
PAGE 4:
Yoshida Toshi (1911–1995), self published: Morning of New Year’s Day in Ginza, 1958.
Igawa Sengai (1879–1961), Publisher: Emaki Konkyukui: Refuge on the streetcar tracks, 1926
PAGE 5:
Tokyo City: The Perpendicular changes of lands by the earthquake of 1923 in Kwanto [sic] Districts, from: The Reconstruction of Tokyo, 1933
PAGE 6:
Unknown Artist, Publisher: Urashima-do: True view of the great whirlwind in the area of Ishihara, Honjo, from the series: News Pictorial of the Great Earthquake Disaster in the Imperial Capital, 20.10.1923 [British Museum: 2011,3024.5]
Unknown Photographer/Publisher: Aftermath of Great Kanto earthquake showing the licensed brothel district in Yoshiwara quarter burning, 1923 [Univ. Washington: INC0072]
PAGE 7:
Isoda Chosu (1880–1947), Publisher: Hoshino Seki, Gahosha: Approach to the Kanda Bridge, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.17]
Chris Uhlenbeck: Shin Hanga: The New prints of Japan 1900–1950, Brussels, Ludion, 2022
PAGE 9:
Unknown Artist, Publisher: Urashima-do: True view of Hanayashiki [Amusement District] and the Twelve-storey Tower, Asakusa Park), from the series: News Pictorial of the Great Earthquake Disaster in the Imperial Capital, 20.10.1923 [British Museum: 2011,3024.6]
Unknown Photographer/Publisher: Asakusa Park Hanayashiki before the earthquake, the burnt down Hanayayashiki, and the evacuation of the carefree elephant, 1923 (?)
PAGE 10:
Unknown Photographer: Portrait of Hoshino Seki, from: Kurita Shunjiro: The Who’s Who in Japan Office, 1913, p. 199
Unknown Artist, Publisher: Hoshino Seki, Gahosha: Contents Page, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 (?) [Portland Art Museum 88.6.37]
PAGE 11:
Jan Binek (–1935): Japonski malarz Senrin Kitygaya (z kwej) w towarzystwie attache wojskomego Japonii Polsce Hikosabura Hata oraz malarki Kiry Banasinskiej, 08.1930 [Narodowe Archiwam Cyfrowe: 3/1/0/11/6304]
Oda Kancho (1889–1961): Sakuragicho Station in Yokohama, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.19]
PAGE 12:
Oda Kancho (1889–1961): Seen near the Katase River in the Kugenuma District, after the Great Kanto Earthquake disaster of September, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.23]
Kawasaki Shoko (1886–1977): The Ruins of the Military Clothing Depot and the Yasuda Mansion after the Great Kanto Earthquake disaster, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.10]
PAGE 13:
Kirigaya Senrin (1876–1932): First Aid Station in Fukugawa, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.34]
Kirigaya Senrin (1876–1932): Temporary Refuge near Camp at Honjo, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.33]
PAGE 14:
Kirigaya Senrin (1876–1932): The great gate of Yoshiwara, from the Series Taisho shinkasai mokuhangashu, 1924 [National Gallery of Victoria: 2019.1050.36]
Further Reading:
Schencking, Charles: The great Kanto earthquake and the chimera of national reconstruction in Japan, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013
Weisenfeld, Gennifer: Imaging disaster: Tokyo and the visual culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012