Changes

Though the ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' tradition in Japan included long-established modes of political commentary, and of images hiding (or revealing) complex layers of multiple meanings & referents, Wirgman's Western-style political cartoons were something new for Japanese audiences & commentators. The simplistic lines of the artistic style were compared to the cartoonish ''[[toba-e]]'' of the past, though there were many more artistically complex ''ukiyo-e'' prints which might have made for a more apt comparison in terms of their political content. Outside of the artistic style and overall Western format of the publication, what was decidedly novel for Japan was the direct, explicit reference to specific contemporary individuals and events; though haphazardly enforced, the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] had time and again declared strict bans on the depiction of contemporary samurai figures or political events in popular materials.

Though the ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' tradition in Japan included long-established modes of political commentary, and of images hiding (or revealing) complex layers of multiple meanings & referents, Wirgman's Western-style political cartoons were something new for Japanese audiences & commentators. The simplistic lines of the artistic style were compared to the cartoonish ''[[toba-e]]'' of the past, though there were many more artistically complex ''ukiyo-e'' prints which might have made for a more apt comparison in terms of their political content. Outside of the artistic style and overall Western format of the publication, what was decidedly novel for Japan was the direct, explicit reference to specific contemporary individuals and events; though haphazardly enforced, the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] had time and again declared strict bans on the depiction of contemporary samurai figures or political events in popular materials.