Welcome to Fanning the Flames, an online portal to a variety of resources focused on the propaganda of modern Japan. Your exploration will reveal resources in the form of digital stories, videos, interactives, and digitized collections—gathered together by the staff of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives (HILA) and subject matter specialists from around the world.
Discover new research. See one-of-a-kind objects. Watch propaganda performed. Share your insights.
Engage with HILA.
Digital Stories
Explore highlighted topics related to propaganda in modern Japan through digital stories.
Core Topics introduce the history, propaganda, and artistic mediums of the era.
A Closer Look offers explorations of more specific topics crafted in special collaborations.
The Rise of Empire
A brief introduction to the history of modern Japan from the end of the Shogunate to the Second World War…
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Conflicts of Modern Japan
A brief introduction to the primary conflicts and wars of modern Japan examined in this project, from the Imo Incident to the Second World War…
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Nishiki-e Defined
An introduction to the medium of multicolored Japanese woodblock prints and its use as mass media in modern Japan …
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Kamishibai Defined
Literally “paper plays,” learn about this unique medium and its history in modern Japan…
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National Policy Kamishibai
A look into the adaptation of the popular kamishibai (paper play) medium into a propaganda tool during wartime...
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PORT ARTHUR: AN ETERNAL SACRED SPACE
Learn about the Russo-Japanese War battle of Port Arthur and post-war symbolism and monuments via this interactive storymap.
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Discover the collections and items that inspired the Fanning the Flames project.
Nishiki-e
View the entire digitized Japanese Woodblock Print Collection from the Hoover Archives …
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Library
Discover highlighted selections from the Hoover Library related to propaganda in modern Japan …
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ARCHIVES
Discover highlighted collections and objects from the Hoover Archives related to propaganda in modern Japan…
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Watch, play, and interact with digitized collections in new ways.
Exhibition in Hoover Tower Gallery
Experience the propaganda of modern Japan via a video tour of the exhibition.
The physical exhibition of Fanning the Flames: Propaganda in Modern Japan ran from November 16, 2021 through July 15, 2022. No longer on display, the content of the exhibition remains available here on this site. You can also experience the past exhibition by viewing our video tour led by Kaoru (Kay) Ueda and Marissa Rhee.
Propaganda shaped Japan during a time of dramatic cultural and political change, as a once isolated feudal country was transformed into an imperialist modern state. In Fanning the Flames, essays by renowned experts probe and contextualize these potent arts, accompanied by rich illustrations from the celebrated collections of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, including woodblock prints, photos, posters, and the rarely examined “paper plays” known as kamishibai. These documents impart a valuable understanding of the past, present, and future of East Asia, where old wounds from battles won and lost still reverberate within Russian, Japanese, and Chinese relations.
Picturing Empire, Nishiki-e and the Wars of Imperial Japan | Olivia Morello and Michael R. Auslin
Anchors of History, The Long Shadow of Imperial Japanese Propaganda | Barak Kushner
Multinational Perspectives of Visualized Journalism on the Sino-Japanese War, A Comparative Study of Meiji Japan, Qing China, and Europe | Toshihiko Kishi
Nishiki-e and War Prints | Junichi Okubo
A Visual Revolution, The Emperor in Popular Nishiki-e | Alice Y. Tseng
Visual Media Trends during the Russo-Japanese War Period, A Comparative Study of Meiji Japan and Czarist Russia | Toshihiko Kishi
Bakudan san’yūshi, The Three Heroes of Shanghai | Hanae Kurihara Kramer and Scott Kramer
The Pacific War and Kamishibai | Tsuneo Yasuda
Printed Wartime Kamishibai | Taketoshi Yamamoto
Events
The Fanning the Flames Speaker Series highlights conversations with leading scholars of modern East Asian history, art, and propaganda and is presented in conjunction with the launch of the book, website, and upcoming physical exhibition.
Tradition Repurposed: New Year’s Pictures, Cartoons and Political Posters around the Second Sino-Japanese War
Shaoqian Zhang, Alice Y. Tseng
“Bushidō” & What “Bushi” Did: Loyalty, Reputation & Honor in the Samurai Tradition
Karl Friday, Kaoru (Kay) Ueda
Two Tales of Kamishibai: in Occupied Japan and Japanese-Occupied Territories
TAKETOSHI YAMAMOTO, Sharalyn Orbaugh
Missionaries and Nisei as “Informants” for the Civil Affairs Training School at Stanford University (1944-1945)
Kayoko Takeda, Eiichiro Azuma
Propaganda Leaflets against the Japanese by the Allies: Insights, Revelations, and Japanese American Contributors
Reiko Tsuchiya, Kaoru (Kay) Ueda
Historiography of the Pacific War: Past Accomplishments and Future Challenges
Ronald Spector, Jonathan Parshall, Richard Frank, Yuma Totani
Holding the Sword of Damocles: Japan in Russian and Soviet Popular Images, 1904-1945
Stephen Norris, Anatol Shmelev
A Visual Revolution: The Emperor in Popular Prints
Alice Y. Tseng, Matthew Sommer
Anchors of History: The Long Shadow of Japanese Imperial Propaganda
BARAK KUSHNER, Michael R. Auslin
Kamishibai (paper plays) & the Mobilization of Women in Wartime Japan
Sharalyn Orbaugh, Kaoru (Kay) Ueda
Learn more about the Library & Archives
The mission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives is to collect, preserve, and make available the most important materials about global political, social, and economic change in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We serve as a platform for a vibrant community of scholars and a broad public interested in the meaning and role of history.