Japanese Art and the Andon: There is a Light That Never Goes Out
The outstanding feature of the andon is its portability. Noted
for their elegance and restrained design, they were developed in
the early edo where interiors were sparsely furnished and the
few objects that there were all conformed to a certain design
aesthetic. The paper shades were very probably a development of
the shoji: paper lined sliding doors that allowed diffused
sunlight to enter rooms during the day. The type illustrated
here is a kaku-andon, the commonest, portable version. Maru-
andon, popular in Osaka were cylindrical versions and there were
smaller versions, like bedside lights that were called ariake-
andon or daybreak lanterns. Yoshitoshi borrowed the device of
the lantern and much else in his own version of the story of
Jirozaemon illustrated above. Lanterns – light, shadow,
silhouette – these had superstitious meaning to the Edo
Japanese. Ghosts and demons were commonly thought to be revealed
by a cast light, a shadow or a shape