Abstract: During the Meiji 20s, the well established artistic genre of kachōga was reconceived as an “invented tradition” on a notably enlarged scale, promoted as identifiably “Japanese” to both domestic viewers and foreign audiences, and suitably eye-catching and technically sophisticated for the new display spaces of exhibition halls and imperial palace. In her presentation, Buckland will examine how the painter Taki Katei (1830-1901) took aspects from his traditional artistic training based on Chinese models and re-deployed them to create a seductively attractive medium conveying an image of Japan as a nation in possession of both beauty and power.