Taisho Era Japanese Hikifuda Advertising Broadside — Beauty and Rubber Rain Capes, 1916

This unusual Japanese hikifuda (advertising broadside), dated Taishō 5 (1916), was issued by Kosakai Shōten of Nagaoka City. Combining a richly printed bijin (beauty) portrait with an attached annual calendar, it advertised a striking range of modern household goods including oil products, sugar, paper goods, and “gomu manto” (rubber rain capes)—a distinctly modern imported item in early 20th century Japan. The juxtaposition of elegant seasonal imagery with practical industrial merchandise reflects the rapidly changing consumer culture of the Taishō period. Designed to be kept and displayed throughout the year, hikifuda like this functioned as both advertisement and decorative calendar.