2006-11-13

The Meiji commute, plus an ourang-outang

A few cartoons from one of my favorite Meiji-era Japanese artists, NAGAHARA Kōtarō. I believe these all date from around the turn of the century.

"Train"
"Mission school"
"Coming home from school"
"Apes as people see them, and people as apes see them"

Popularity factor: 4

IbaDaiRon:

Love the train and ape ones.

Not sure I get the mission school, though.

???


Joel:

Orang-utan in Malay literally works out to Japan yama-bito (in vice versa order), but these humans are more city people.


Matt:

Ron: Ah, those middle two aren't actually supposed to be funny. I just like 'em.

Joel: Nice linkage! They definitely look like city folk to me. And I want that guy's hat.


IbaDaiRon:

Ah, gotcha.

(Joel, I always heard that it meant "man of the forest/jungle" [Wikipedia confirms this, FWIW], so wouldn't mori-bito be more accurate?)

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