| About the Kansei Reform |
The Kansei Reform was the second reform among three reforms conducted during the Tokugawa period. The reform was planned and conducted from 1787 through 1793 by Matsudaira Sadanobu who was in one of the highest positions in the Tokugawa government in order to resolve the financial problems, reform the corrupted government policies, and help poor samurai. The government strictly controlled public morals, thoughts, lives and choice of studies. They punished anyone who, the government thought, corrupted public morals, and many novelists were punished during the reform. The reform seemed successful at first; however, it ended in failure with the retirement of Matsudaira Sadanobu in 1793.
Even after the failure, the government still continued controlling the public morals, and they began to punish ukiyoe artists who drew the topics which, the government thought, would corrupt the public morals.
Artists were forced to change their topics and felt that they lost their freedom. Some ukiyoe artists, such as Eishi quit his career in the ukiyoe field.
| Who were punished? |
The following three great ukiyoe artists were punished after the reform.
Their hands were placed in chains for 50 days.
