An Ainu Girl Playing the Mukkuri (Jew's Harp)
Date
1953
Credits
- Kuriyagawa Kenichi Graphic Designer
Format
- Poster 2401
Clients
Media
- paper 2118
Techniques
- offset lithography 649
- painting 101
Dimensions
730 × 1030 mm
Locations Made
- Japan 558
This 1954 travel poster by Kenichi Kuriyagawa shows an Ainu girl in traditional dress on Hokkaido. Kuriyagawa applies an impasto technique to give texture and depth to the image. The poster highlights the Ainu as a distinct cultural group and reflects postwar Japan’s focus on tourism and regional identity. Its composition emphasizes both the figure and the surrounding landscape, creating a vivid sense of place. Kuriyagawa’s textured brushwork makes the figure stand out against the softly rendered Hokkaido landscape, emphasizing both cultural detail and natural surroundings.
