Ports & Postmarks

Open the room · 3 min

Ask everyone to name something that once traveled to reach their home. Which marks on it could tell a stranger where it came from?

Follow three objects · 15 min

1. Nagasaki, 1659. Read the porcelain shipment record. Look at what the invoice lists. What could you establish about the cargo even if you never saw the ship?
2. Yokohama, 1860. Open the teahouse print record. Give each person a moment to look. Which details come from the artist’s choices, and which questions would need another source?
3. Tokyo, 1871. Find the pair of dragons on Japan’s first postage stamps. What did the stamp tell a postal clerk? What might a collector notice that the clerk could overlook?

Compare the evidence · 7 min

Choose one invoice, print or stamp. Invite someone to finish both sentences aloud. “From this object we can tell…” and “I would need another source to know…”

Further reading · The Met on Edo-period porcelain · Printing Museum, Tokyo · Japan’s National Printing Bureau

ExploreChronicle.com/shop/circle-card.html · You may print and share this original sample for your reading group. Linked museum materials retain their own terms.