Author: Tobacco hikifuda. Iwaya & Co.
Title: Hikifuda by Iwaya & Co for their Shotengu cigarettes and other brands from American manufacturers Wm. S. Kimball and S.F. Hess
Description: Tokyo? Iwaya c1890? 27x38cm illustrated lithograph. Folded and frayed around the edges; pretty decent. ¶ Iwaya Matsuhei was a promoter's promoter. After a few false starts - the odd incendiary rebellion, lawsuit and bankruptcy - he got into tobacco in the 1880s. Importing and learning from American companies like Kimball and manufacturing his own Tengu cigarettes from about 1884. He was soon a flamboyant plutocrat about town, bannering how much tax he paid and how many charity workers he supported (a lot). Soon came the great Tobacco Advertising War between Iwaya and his rival Murai Kichibei.This restrained hikifuda, which features more of Iwaya's imports than his own brands must come early in the history. Shotengu - small Tengu - was only one of a panoply of Tengu cigarettes - large Tengu, medium, gold Tengu, silver Tengu ... through to happy nation Tengu.

Keywords: graphic art commercial advertising hikifuda c19th Japan tobacco