Description

A color lithograph patriotic fan sample print, likely created between 1937 and 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).* A Japanese soldier is handing a white pouch to a small Chinese boy holding a Japanese flag; his older brother holds his Japanese flag aloft while carrying a basket of what looks like eggs. On the left is a woman, likely the boys' mother, in Chinese attire holding a flag, possibly that of one of the puppet states Japan established in China. Is this a scene of a Japanese Imperial Army infantryman about to leave China, as suggested by the transport plane flying overhead? While it is unclear exactly what is being portrayed in this print, we can be certain of its message, that the Chinese are grateful for the Japanese presence in their country. 

The print carries the sample catalog number そ印 参百六拾七號 (so in sanbyaku roku jū nana gō [367]). These numbered fan prints (uchiwa-e 団扇絵) were gathered into a sample book (uchiwa mihonchō 団扇見本帳, or uchiwa gachō 団扇画帖.) to show wholesale customers the range of available designs.

* The Second Sino-Japanese War is referred to in China as the "War of Resistance Against Japan."