The Unexpected History Hidden in a Jintan Japanese Commercial

             

          Every now and then, history drops something surprising right into my hands. This time it was a simple Japanese commercial, a print on canvas. But when I dug deeper, asking myself How did a Japanese brand end up here in India? the answer I found was mind-blowing. Suddenly, it felt like I was holding a doorway into another world. And this doorway happened to be a JINTAN (仁丹) commercial print from mid-1900s Japan.

Would you like to hear the story this little Jintan print carries with it?

Welcome to my world!

The real story behind the Jintan commercial doesn’t begin in the 1950s. It begins hundreds of years earlier with a traveller, a book, and a tale that set Europe dreaming.

When Marco Polo returned to Venice after his long travels, he got caught in a war between Venice and Genoa, was captured, and ended up in prison. There, he met a writer named Rustichello da Pisa. Marco narrated his travel adventures, and Rustichello, a romance and adventure writer, wrote them down in his own dramatic style. 

(Book of Travels of Marco Polo) 

That’s how The Travels of Marco Polo was born: Marco’s experiences shaped by Rustichello’s storytelling. Among these stories was a chapter describing a mysterious land Marco had never visited.. a place he called ‘Chipangu’ (pronounced chee-PAHN-goo). The details about that mysterious island was sooo wild.

He described the ruler’s floors, roofs, and chambers were made of  two-finger-thick gold…  not plated, but solid gold. He even claimed that nobles were buried with pink or red pearls in their mouths, which showed their unimaginable wealth.

(Ref. of Red Pearl and gold roof and floors from the book Travels of Marco Polo )   

These were stories Marco heard while in China half-truths mixed with exaggerations. But Europe didn’t care about accuracy. Europe cared about gold. And that’s where the real story begins.

For nearly 300 years after Marco Polo, Europeans were obsessed with this “island of gold.” Chipangu, or Zipangu, became a dream, a prize across the ocean. Expeditions set sail again and again, chasing this myth.

(Japanese art - Portuguese ship)

Finally, in 1543, a Portuguese ship caught in a storm drifted onto the southern shores of Japan. An accidental discovery of the land they had been dreaming about.

(The mysterious island “Chipangu“ or Japan)

(Japanese art of Portuguese introducing Guns) 

At first, everything went smoothly. The Portuguese traded goods, exchanged ideas, introduced new technologies (including firearms), and brought Christianity. Slowly, missionaries gained influence. People converted, drawn by new teachings and promises. But over time, religion started mixing with politics, and power began to shift. Japan’s rulers grew uneasy. Foreign faiths were no longer just beliefs, they were becoming political forces. And so Japan decided to shut everything down.

(A Japanese painting of Missionaries preaching in Japan )

In 1639, Japan made one of the most extraordinary decisions in world history. It closed its borders. Total isolation. No foreign influence. Only one tiny Dutch trading post was allowed, heavily restricted. For more than 200 years, Japan lived in “Sakoku” a silence unlike anything the world had seen.

(Perry’s Ship- Japanese woodblock, 1854.National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.)

 

Then, in 1853, four enormous American steamships appeared in Tokyo Bay. Black, towering, and belching smoke, the Japanese called them “Kurofune” meaning  “Black Ships.” They were led by Commodore Matthew Perry, who arrived with an ultimatum: “Open your ports.”

Japan had no choice.

Everything changed again.

In 1854, Japan signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, ending two centuries of isolation and reopening its doors to the world. And once the doors opened, the modernisation of Japan began. The The Meiji Restoration modernised Japan at lightning speed. In just a few decades, Japan shifted from samurai rule and isolation to railways, factories, modern schools, a modern army, and global trade, a pace of change almost unmatched in world history. And Japanese goods began travelling across Asia, including colonial India.

(Japanese art - Treaty of Kanagawa 1854)

And that’s how this Jintan print eventually reached here, decades later.

This mid-1900s Jintan commercial print features bold typography in Hindi and Bengali, Japanese branding, and striking Western military imagery, a fascinating blend of cultures shaped by centuries of global interaction.

Now, about the brand, founded in Osaka in 1893, Jintan has a long legacy in health and wellness. That makes this piece not just beautiful, but historically meaningful. If you’re interested in this product that travelled across countries, cultures, and time, check out the link for its product details.

Let me end this blog by saying, It is one of those rare objects that reminds us how global interactions ripple across centuries,  sometimes starting from nothing more than a story told by a traveller.

Thank you! 

And if you’d like to see a same history but short version, check out the video linked below.