Faculty Information |

YUKI Yoshinobu Faculty of Literature Department of History and Culture Professor

■ Title
The Shadow of the West in Zohaienshuzu(Banquet on the back of an elephant)

■ Outline
  Zohaienshuzu (Banquet on the back of an elephant), which is owned by the Kaitokudo Library in the Osaka University Library is a picture of a giant elephant with a turret on its back. This painting looks very oriental, in terms of both the style of painting and the contents of its inscription. However, in an article written by Riken's older brother Chikuzan, we can see that he had seen a Western painting drawing war elephant with turret on its back. In another article also written by Chikuzan, we can see that he had seen copperplate prints owned by Yamagata family and one of them is a figure of war elephant unit. In this article, the author also guesses what kind of copperplate print it was. Kaitokudo scholars also mention the telescope which is also seen in the picture. Their interest in and contact with the West is unexpectedly great.
  YUKI Yoshinobu
  Single   Bulletin of Daito Bunka University. The humanities   Daito Bunka University   (59),pp.165   2021/02