Here is a collection of early 20th century travel posters for Japanese steamship companies (from the book Miwaku no Funatabi, published by the Museum of Maritime Science, 1993).
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd., 1909
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd., 1916
Oriental Steamship Co., 1919 (Chinese poster)
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd., 1916
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK), 1910
Korean Mail Steamship Co., 1918
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd., 1912
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK), 1914
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK), 1940
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd., 1909
Osaka Mercantile Steamship Co., Ltd., 1916
Oriental Steamship Co., 1914
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK), 1909
Japan Mail Steamship Co. (NYK), 1928-1930
Matthew Meyer
These are absolutely beautiful! Thank you so much!
[]Chris Kearin
Great stuff. Interesting that they were apparently aiming their marketing largely at women.
[]Eru
Are you saying that because of the women in the posters? I wouldn't think so, you know how everywhere ladies are commonly used for ANY advertising.
[]Charles
Just because a woman is featured in an advert, doesn't mean it is targeted towards woman. Part of what I think they were going for was to make steam ship travel look accessible and easy. Something anyone can do. The woman on the adverts would also attract the attention of men. Its something they would want to look at.
[]Charlotte
Oh, so Maxim is a womens' magazine?
[]Dia Sobin
Amazingly lovely images - thank you!
[]Christian
thx for the great images
>>Interesting that they were apparently aiming their marketing largely at women.
[]depiction of women != women as target group
i think the women work more as mascots here. traditional beauty meets modern steamships...
Marco
Great pictures! Is there a way to get print copies or a larger scaled version so I can print them out myself?
[]dorela
nice images, thanks for share!
[]wc
wow. VERY nice post. thanks.
[]Kamal
they are lovely. thank you.
[]charlie mchenry
Fantastic images. Stunning graphic design and lush colors. Wonderful. Thanks.
[]Adam Prall
Pretty, and creepy--the peoples' features and bodily proportions look as if they were illustrated by someone who had not studied anatomy. The colors and compositions are interesting, and very different from my Western perspective.
[]Sivli
Adam the key factor you are missing is that the Japanese live, traditionally, by the flowing of energy. Note how all the people create circles with every form. From what I understand sharp edges cuts of the energy and would "damage" the art, which makes the people seem unreal.
[]Ecsphoria
Stunningly beautiful!
The "three sisters" one dated 1940 and 1941 is a bit spooky. Aside from their beautiful clothes, the "three sisters" look completely pedestrian. One can only imagine what the models who sat for the painting endured over the next several years...
[]kudzu
Interesting. Check out the wikipedia entries for the "Three Sisters":
Nitta Maru, Yawata Maru, Kasuga Maru
They were originally designed as passenger ships but were converted into warships soon after the poster above was printed. None of the ships survived the war.
[]dapking
Thanks for checking up on that. It was my first thought after seeing the dates the ships launched.
[]o3gawara
What a fantastic find. Where oh where in heavens can one get one's covetous pinkies on even copies of them? They are a real treasure showing us how far ahead Japan was in the printing and publicity field. Now if only someone could find copies of the extraordinary Nippon Magazine of the 30's and make it available to us...But that maybe a pipe dream. Thankyou Virtual D. for sharing with me.
[]Hector Hurtado
It was really nice to look at these vintage illustrations indeed!
Do you know what's the copyright on this? Are these images in the public domain for all to use and display? A couple of them could fit nicely in my latest design (see my website).
Thanks for any info provided, and thanks for exhibiting these posters :)
[]Pignouf
Magnifique ! ...:)
[]Bento_Boxx
Extremely elegant and beautifully done. These posters
[]are just the same way like they were just released
from the printing factory. Great find. :D
Loopfiend
No seriously, WHERE CAN I GET THESE FABULOUS IMAGES AS POSTERS?
[]Catherine
I wish I knew where to buy a copy of the OSAKA SHOSEN KAISHA.
[]rogerDautais
Felicitations pour cette très belle serie d'affiches dont le graphisme et les couleurs sont d'un très grand interêt, pour des collectionneurs, par exemple.
Roger Dautais
[]John Stepper
Really nice.
Odd that almost none of the women are smiling. Some look downright sad. I wonder if that's a sign of the times or the culture?
[]Nisha Panchal
May I purchase prints of these anywhere?
[]Thomas Gantz
Wow, these are great. How did you find them all? I especially liked the last one.
[]Michelle
Great pictures! Unfortunately, not all of them display in my browser. Is this happening to anyone else?
[]Ralph.T
The pictures are wonderful and highly reminiscent of Japan in the past.
[]Peter
Great artistic pictures
[]cercadeafrica
This is sooooo beautiful...!
[]Beebs
Who are the artists of these posters? And is there any references for these like any books or articles you found them in? They are great images!
[]Vizz Media
Some really wonderful images you have shared. Great post.
[]Melody
This is Chinese! Yeah it has Japanese people in it but it's by Chinese. The writing is Chinese and the drawings don't look Japanese. I am Japansese so I know.
[]Cassie
These are great! Just wish the majority of the images weren't flipped. Makes it a bit difficult to read.
[]Tony
Hi! Great pictures, however, I couldn't help but noticed the exotic flag beside the Rising Sun one on some of the posters. Can anyone help me out on this? Just curious, thanks a bunch.
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