Japan: Hikifuda advertising poster depicting three boys with a bottle gourd and gardening implements, late...

Japan: Hikifuda advertising poster depicting three boys with a bottle gourd and gardening implements. It has been left blank so that the printer can add the text required by the purchaser in the column on the left hand side. Late Meiji (1868-1912) "Hikifuda" are advertising handbills that became popular in late 19th to early 20th century Japan. Showing the increasing sophistication of Japanese commerce, the handbills were produced to advertise a company or promote a product, and sometimes they were even used as wrapping paper. While "Hikifuda" began to be produced as woodblock prints in the late 17th century, they witnessed a boom in the later 19th century when they were cheaply printed using colour lithography.