This poster for Kodansha’s nine major magazines was produced around 1926 (Taishō period) by advertiser Dan Nippon Yubenkai Kodansha, who was a catalyst for the creation of the popular entertainment magazine genre. The embroidered texts on Poster 21 foreground the multiple, insidious caste and class systems prevalent throughout East Asia based on Confucian principles.

Sacred Bone | Seonggol | True Bone | Jingol | Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues | Sangang Wuchang (Korean Peninsula)

Greater Virtue | Lesser Virtue | Greater Benevolence | Lesser Benevolence | Greater Propriety | Lesser Propriety | Greater Sincerity | Lesser Sincerity | Greater Justice | Lesser Justice | Greater Knowledge | Lesser Knowledge (Based on the 12 level cap and rank system; Asuka period, Japan)