Children-at-play Prints and the Affective Nature of Political Caricature in Edo in 1868

This article re-examines the expression of political satire in children-at-play prints issued in Edo in the spring and summer of 1868. The prints envisioned key events of the Boshin War through the lens of Edo’s popular culture. This article argues that the satirical meanings of these prints were not primarily grounded in an adversarial position towards the government but in the wish to affirm the values of townspeople’s culture at a time of political instability. This was achieved by projecting an affective gaze onto Edo children, their games, and the popular cultural practices these pertained to.