Reviving Taisho Roman with Takehisa Yumeji
"I do not care for skills that will make me draw better…I desire the richness from delicate sensual pleasures and feelings full of amazement."
Recognized as the pioneer of the Taisho Romanticism movement (1912-1926), Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934) was a multitalented painter, illustrator, designer, poet, and journalist. He captivated the public with evocative works infused with nostalgia and avant-garde sensibilities, merging the classical taste of Edo with the urban sophistication of the Taisho era. More significantly, Yumeji introduced the "Yumeji Style"—a modern depiction of beautiful, slender women with large eyes, dark eyelashes, graceful limbs, and often melancholic expressions.
Running until January 11, 2027, at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, "Takehisa Yumeji—An Artist Who Defined His Era" is a comprehensive showcase featuring approximately 500 of the beloved artist's outstanding artworks. These range from paintings, woodblock prints, sketches, and graphic designs to lifestyle items like books, "tenugui" towels, yukata robes, "uchiwa" fans, and kimono collars. Gathered from premier institutions—including the Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum, Yumeji Art Museum, Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan Museum, Takehisa Yumeji Museum, Chiyoda City (Ryuseikaku Takehisa Yumeji Collection), Fukuda Art Museum, and Furusato Art Museum—the works emphasize a blend of Edo-period exoticism and retro-modern designs, solidifying Yumeji's reputation as a trailblazing visionary who bridged art and media.
Gallery view, "Takehisa Yumeji—An Artist Who Defined His Era," The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Photo © Alma Reyes
The first chapter displays inset illustrations, picture postcards, scrolls, and books delineating Yumeji's early life and the inception of his "bijin-ga" (paintings of beautiful women). At seventeen, he moved from his birthplace in Okayama to Tokyo to pursue both formal schooling and his literary dream of becoming a poet. However, he turned to illustration for financial support, producing drawings and writings for newspapers and magazines at a young age. His first art album, "Yumeji gashu—Haru no maki" (Spring Volume), released in 1909, instantly popularized his unassuming scenes of everyday life, which were rendered in a refreshing composition of bold brushstrokes. Around the end of the Meiji era and the start of the Taisho period, Yumeji focused heavily on developing the sensual image of exquisite women, igniting the iconic Yumeji Style.
A typical example of this approach is "Woman at Rest on the Grass" (1910). The slim, fragile-looking young woman sits in an open grassy field, her full, wistful eyes gazing out pensively with sentimental charm. The way she turns her neck to align with her S-curve pose is characteristically Yumeji. She wears a stylish, red, flowing kimono accentuated by a modern, botanical-patterned obi, reflecting a union of Japanese tradition and 20th-century Western romanticism.
Yumeji contributed cynical koma-e (illustrations printed in the margins of newspapers and magazines) to publications of the socialist movement. In "Koma-e: 'Untitled,' Chokugen, vol. 2, no. 20 (Heiminsha)" (1905), he takes a radical stand against the devastating toll of the Russo-Japanese War. The woodblock print illustrates a weeping woman beside a skeleton clad in a kimono that bears a Red Cross symbol on its sleeve. The skeleton represents the soldiers who never returned from battle—a testament to Yumeji's deep anti-war sentiment. Chokugen was a newspaper run by the socialist movement group Heiminsha, which published the artist's first political satire, inciting profound empathy for war victims.
Takehisa Yumeji, Left: Woman at Rest on the Grass, early 1910s, Shizuoka City Museum of Art (display period until 11/23) / Right: Koma-e: "Untitled," Chokugen, vol. 2, no. 20 (Heiminsha), June 18, 1905, Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan Museum
From the second part of the exhibition, visitors can walk through halls elegantly designed with a retro flair. Bright wallpapers exemplify Yumeji's works while outlining the artist's career as a commercial designer. Numerous delicate designs appear on "chiyogami" (patterned paper), stationery, fashion goods such as decorative collar slips, and graphic materials like book covers and sheet music. In 1914, Yumeji opened the stationery and daily goods shop Minatoya Ezoshiten in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, to sell his creations. The venue became a cultural salon that gathered artists and writers. Among these works, "Minatoya Print Publisher (Minatoya edition)" (1914) captures an elegant, multicolored "ukiyo-e" woodblock print scene of the storefront and the port. The three figures are outlined in soft silhouettes that inspire modern lyricism rather than rigid academic realism.
Yumeji designed roughly 270 sheet music covers in free-style drawing for the Senow Music Score series. "Evening Primrose, no. 106 from Senow Music Scores, Lyrics by Takehisa Yumeji, Composed by Ōno Tadasuke" (1918)—a cover design for the song "Yoimachigusa" (Evening Primrose)—exemplifies the artist's signature "dainty beauty" through the woman's elongated physique, refined hands, and forlorn expression. Because the evening primrose blooms only in the dark, it perfectly echoes Yumeji's intended symbolism for unrequited love, based on his unattainable love for a woman he met in Chiba Prefecture. He also wrote the lyrics, and the original poem was published in the magazine Shojo in 1912.
Takehisa Yumeji, Left: Minatoya Print Publisher (Minatoya edition), 1914, Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan Museum / Right: Evening Primrose, no. 106 from Senow Music Scores, Lyrics by Takehisa Yumeji, Composed by Ōno Tadasuke, 1921 (third edition) [first edition: 1918], Chiyoda City (Ryūseikaku Takehisa Yumeji Collection) (display period until 11/23)
Stationery designs include "Designed paper: Primroses (Minatoya edition)" (1914-1916) and "Design drawing for a kimono collar: [Red Fruits and Birds]" (1914-1916), which intertwine traditional motifs of flowers, fruits, and birds with the free-flowing elements of Art Nouveau. The former spotlights rhythmically sequenced primroses in muted pastels, while the latter serves as a decorative fabric accessory worn at the neckline of a kimono. In this piece, adorable tiny birds perch on branches amidst scattered red berries arranged perfectly to fit the vertical layout.
Takehisa Yumeji, Left: Designed paper: Primroses (Minatoya edition), 1914-1916, Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum / Right: Design drawing for a kimono collar: [Red Fruits and Birds], 1914–1916, Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum
Other graphic designs on display in the fifth part of the exhibition include "'May,' The Ladies' Graphic, vol. 3, no. 5" (1926) from the pictorial magazine Fujin Graph. Yumeji portrays a sophisticated woman dressed in a light kimono, admiring a canopy of wisteria flowers. In 1925, the literary magazine Wakakusa was launched, stressing Yumeji's striking interpretation of a "modern girl"—as conveyed by "Wakakusa, vol. 1, no. 1 (Hōbunkan)," which shows the woman's beaded headdress and contemporary wardrobe. The magazine cover was crucial in propagating the chic image of trendy "shojo" (young girl).
Takehisa Yumeji, Left: May, The Ladies' Graphic, vol. 3, no. 5, May 1, 1926, Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum / Right: Wakakusa, vol. 1, no. 1 (Hōbunkan), October 1, 1925, Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum
In the third section, which centers on retro-modern creations, viewers can marvel at two exemplary masterpieces being unveiled in public for the first time in forty years."Chinese Rings" (1918) pertains to a Chinese song narrating a puzzle toy of nine interconnected rings that mirror the complexities of romance between a man and a woman. The courtesan in the scroll integrates repeating interlocking rings and seems to be dancing with a missionary.
Considered to be Yumeji's grandest masterwork, "Kuronfuneya" (1919) is showcased in a somber room, drawing attention solely to the art piece and a small window with a black cat striding by. The painting presents an attractive woman, dressed in an earth-colored Hachijo silk kimono, cradling a black cat in her arms while seated on a wooden chest. Brilliant contrasts between the ochre and black hues, alongside the orange collar and green obi sash complement the strong presence of her pink and purple undergarments. The woman's downcast eyes, tilted head, and air of of yearning and vulnerability encapsulate the essence of "Yumeji beauty."
Takehisa Yumeji, Left: Chinese Rings, 1918, Private Collection / Right: Kurofuneya, 1919, Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum
A captivating folding screen titled "Rest in Autumn" (1920) illustrates a woman in a pale violet striped cotton kimono seated on a bench under a tree with falling leaves. Her travel bag suggests her arrival from another city.
Takehisa Yumeji, Rest in Autumn, 1920, Yumeji Art Museum
The fourth part of the exhibition tracks the drastic social changes in Japan after the the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. As Yumeji's popularity gradually declined, he embarked on a new venture in doll-making. Meanwhile, he frequented Mount Haruna in Gunma Prefecture to heal his soul and seek inspiration, eventually setting up his atelier by Lake Haruna at the end of 1930. Dedicating "Harunasanfu (Ode to Mount Haruna" (1931) to this enchanting sanctuary, Yumeji painted an elegant, red-robed woman against a backdrop of Mount Haruna. Representing the spring goddess Saho-hime, the woman's sorrowful expression echoes the artist's lingering feelings of longing during that period.
The painting is paired with the similarly rendered "Tatsutahime" (1931), the goddess of autumn. She poses in a red-waisted kimono tied with a long obi sash, with the distant Mount Fuji behind. Both works, which voice Yumeji's perception of the ideal woman, are being exhibited for the first time in fourteen years.
Takehisa Yumeji, Left: Harunasanfu (Ode to Mount Haruna), 1931, Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum / Right: Tatsutahime, 1931, Yumeji Art Museum
As the late 1920s to 1930s witnessed rapid modernization in Japan, Yumeji's style shifted dramatically toward early Showa-era modernism, highlighting more confident and cosmopolitan contemporary women. His travels across the U.S. and Europe also resulted in a more prominent application of Western techniques. The final piece in the last part of the exhibition, "Women of the Four Seasons" (1929) is a magnificent folding screen portraying six fashionable women in descriptive settings of changing seasons. Their Westernized coiffure, accessories, parasols, handbags, and rings suggest a commanding foreign influence during that time.
Takehisa Yumeji, Women of the Four Seasons, 1929, Furusato Art Museum
Takehisa Yumeji will always be remembered as a catalyst who drove the transition of Japanese feminine beauty from demure and conservative to self-assured and empowered.
Details:
"Takehisa Yumeji—An Artist Who Defined His Era"
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Until January 11, 2027
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Fridays and Saturdays open until 8 p.m)
Closed Mondays (except November 23 and January 11), November 24, December 28, and-January 1
Written by Alma Reyes
