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| Kuniyasu: Rakuda no zu - 1824 |
This woodblock print from 1824 by Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794-1832) is named “Rakuda no zu”, and shows a pair of camels. They are probably the first camels ever on Japanese soil - namely the pair of camels that were brought to Japan by Jan Cock Blomhoff, the head of the Dutch East India Company, in 1821, as a gift to his Japanese courtesan. The camels were moved to Edo over the Tōkaidō road, and did get enormous attention. The courtesan showed them for money and is said to have made a fortune.
At least one source claims that the camels were intended as a gift to the Shogun, who refused to take them. They were then given to Blomhoff's courtesan.
The calligraphy is made by Santô Kyôden. It is a description of the animals and their tour in 1821.
Pictures like this are called Nagasaki-e. That is pictures of goods and animals from abroad, which (1639-1854) always entered Japan through the port Deshima in Nagasaki.