P43 Antique Japanese Tobacco Advertising Poster – “Hinode” (日の出 / Sunrise), Iwatani Shokai, Ginza, Pre-War Japan, Meiji–Taishō Period, c. 1910s–1920s

High-quality original Japanese advertising poster promoting “Hinode” (日の出, meaning “Sunrise”) tobacco, produced by Iwatani Shokai (岩谷商会) of Ginza, Tokyo. This is an authentic pre-war Japanese commercial poster, dating to the late Meiji to early Taishō period (circa 1910s–1920s), a formative era in the development of modern Japanese advertising.

The brand name Hinode (“Rising Sun”) was widely used in early 20th-century Japan for products meant to symbolize modernity, progress, and a new era. During this period, such names were especially popular for tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceutical products aimed at urban consumers embracing Western-style lifestyles.

Iwatani Shokai was a Tokyo-based trading and distribution company active in the late Meiji and Taishō periods, with offices in Ginza, the most modern and fashionable commercial district of Tokyo at the time. Ginza was the center of Western-style shops, department stores, and modern graphic advertising, and companies based there invested heavily in high-quality illustrated lithographic posters to attract attention in shop windows and on busy streets.

The composition reflects this moment of cultural transition, combining Western lifestyle imagery with refined graphic design and decorative framing. The narrow vertical format is typical of shop display posters of the period, intended to hang inside tobacco shops and general stores.

Posters like this are rare survivors from the earliest phase of Japan’s consumer advertising culture and represent the golden age of Japanese lithographic commercial art before World War II.

This is an outstanding and historically important example of pre-war Japanese tobacco advertising from the late Meiji to early Taishō period.

Details:

Product: Hinode (日の出 / “Sunrise”) tobacco
Company: Iwatani Shokai (岩谷商会), Ginza, Tokyo
Subject: Tobacco / cigarette advertising
Period: Pre-war Japan, late Meiji – early Taishō period, c. 1910s–1920s
Technique: Lithographic advertising poster
Country: Japan
Size: approximately 75 × 33 cm
Condition: Original vintage poster with age-related wear, including tears, edge losses, and creases consistent with age