Japanese steamship travel posters
10 May 2010
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
These are absolutely beautiful! Thank you so much!
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Great stuff. Interesting that they were apparently aiming their marketing largely at women.
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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.
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Amazingly lovely images - thank you!
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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...
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Great pictures! Is there a way to get print copies or a larger scaled version so I can print them out myself?
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nice images, thanks for share!
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wow. VERY nice post. thanks.
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they are lovely. thank you.
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Fantastic images. Stunning graphic design and lush colors. Wonderful. Thanks.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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Thanks for checking up on that. It was my first thought after seeing the dates the ships launched.
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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.
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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 :)
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Magnifique ! ...:)
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Extremely elegant and beautifully done. These posters
are just the same way like they were just released
from the printing factory. Great find. :D
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No seriously, WHERE CAN I GET THESE FABULOUS IMAGES AS POSTERS?
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Félicitations pour cette très belle série d'affiches dont le graphisme et les couleurs sont d'un très grand intérêt, pour des collectionneurs, par exemple.
Roger Dautais
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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?
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May I purchase prints of these anywhere?
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Wow, these are great. How did you find them all? I especially liked the last one.
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Great pictures! Unfortunately, not all of them display in my browser. Is this happening to anyone else?
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