[Gyofu (Fisherman)]

[Yamamoto], Kanae [illustrated by]; [Hashimoto, Okiie (printed by)].

[Japan: Hashimoto Okiie, 1960].

A 1960 memorial edition printing of Fisherman by pioneering sōsaku hanga artist Yamamoto Kanae (1882–1946). The Cleveland Museum of Art provides the following description of the original work:

"This modest pr ...

[Otokodate Jūnin-zoroi (Ten Chivalrous Men)]

[Toyohara], Kunichika [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Izutsuya [Shōkichi], Keiō Gannen [1865].

A selection of five prints from Toyohara Kunichika's Otokodate Jūnin-zoroi (Ten Chivalrous Men), a ten-print series portraying leading kabuki actors as famous otokodate, the gallant commoners of Edo popular fict ...

[Untitled album of hand-painted postcards] 

[Asaka], Tairin [hand-painted by].

[Japan, ca. 1910-11]. In manuscript.

A collection of 83 hand-painted postcards (and one woodblock-printed postcard) by the artist and satirical cartoonist Asaka Tairin. Although little is known about Tairin's life, it is recorded that he produced designs for commercial ...

"滑稽 笑袋"

Murata, Tamesaburō [text by].

Tōkyō: Hakkōdō, Meiji 27 [1894].

A woodblock-printed collection of amusing mistakes and misheard words. The compilation, publication of which was certified by the Home Ministry, is almost entirely in katakana.

One leaf, complete. Creases, light foxing, marks, small hole and sticker removal. 24 ...

[A collection of 39 fans]

Kamisaka, Sekka, Tomioka, Tessai, Takeuchi, Seihō .. [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Kyōto?: publisher/s unidentified, ca. late Meiji to early Shōwa period (1910-1920s?)].

A beautifully preserved collection of 39 eye-catching sensu fans featuring designs based on fruits, flowers, landscapes, people, and animals, by acclaimed artists i ...

Naimono-zukushi ["A Compilation of Things That Aren't"]

[Author/s unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo period (1820-50s?)].

A "collection of things that aren't"; each line of text ends with nai, a negative form of a verb or an auxiliary verb and adjective indicating the lack or non-existence of something. For example, one lin ...

Goshinpatsu Hitotsutose-bushi ["Military Departure: A Hitotsutose Song"]

[Author/s unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Meiji period (1890-1910s?)].

A hitotsutose counting song in twenty verses on a military campaign, possibly printed around the time of the First Sino-Japanese War or the Russo-Japanese War. Hitotsutose was a type of kazo ...

[Fabric Fragment].

[Designer unidentified].

[Japan: manufacturer unidentified, ca. Meiji period (1868-1912)?].

A cutting of fabric embroidered with a bird's-eye image of people dancing on a bridge. The fragmen ...

[Fabric fragment]

[Designer unidentified].

[Japan: manufacturer unidentified, ca. Meiji period (1868-1912)?].

A cutting of fabric embroidered with clouds, pine trees, waves, and foreign ships. The fragment, which ...

[A Meiji era photograph of Japanese police graduating from an English language class]

[Photographer unidentified].

[Japan: studio unidentified], 1906.

A photograph produced during the Meiji era. The handwritten caption reads (in English) "June 28, 1906. Graduating ceremony of English student [sic] of police". Two foreign women and one foreign man are pictu ...

[Kitao, Masayoshi ... (et al.) (illustrated by)].

[Tōkyō]: Sekaidō, [ca. mid-Shōwa period (1930-50s)?].

A collection of four postcards introducing famous places in Tokyo, featuring an illustration of a shop selling ezōshi (illustrated books), nishiki-e (ukiyo-e prints), hanging scrolls, and other items in Asakusa's Nakamise shopping street. ...

Odoke Jitsugokyō: irozato machijū anazukushi, shohen ["A witty Jitsugokyō: all sorts of tales from around the pleasure quarters, first part"]

[Author unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified], Tenpō 2 [1831].

The Jitsugokyō ("Teachings of the words of truth") was a textbook on morality used for learning kanji and kanbun (literary Sinitic) at terakoya ...

Amijima Shinjū: Koharu Jihē ["The Love Suicide at Amijima: Koharu and Jihē"]

Shōrin, Hakuchi [performed by]; Namiue, Gisa[burō] [transcribed by]; Suzuki, Anjirō [edited by]; Toyohara, Kunichika [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Yamato Shinbunsha, Meiji 30 [1897].

A complete transcription in four issues of a performance by professional storyteller Shōrin Hakuchi (1 ...

[Untitled obi]

[(Japan?): maker unidentified, ca. Shōwa period (20th century)].

A Shōwa period obi featuring multiple gold and silver book wrappers with elaborate patterns.

One obi. Light blue-grey underside. Approximately 434 x 31 cm.

[An untitled album of woodblock-printed illustrations]

Taki, Katei, [Fukushima], Chikaharu, [Fukushima], Ryūho, [Shibata], Zeshin, [Satake], Eiko, [Tōdō], Ryōun, Rinsei, Zuika [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. early Meiji period (1860-70s?)].

An untitled album of ten colour woodblockprinted illustrations of plants, flowers, animals, p ...

[An untitled collection of twenty-three kamon and katagami stencils]

[Creator/s unidentified]. 

[Japan: creator unidentified, ca. late Edo to late Meiji period (1850-1900s)?].

A collection of beautiful hand-cut stencils for textile dyeing. Most of the stencils feature kamon (circular family crests) and would have been used on the back panel of coats. ...

[An untitled egoyomi tanzaku album]

Shimomura, Kanzan, Takeuchi, Seihō, Taniguchi, Kōkyō ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. Meiji 42 (1909)].

A daishō egoyomi (pictorial calendar) for 1910, featuring twelve poetry-slip (tanzaku) sized leaves, one for each month of the year, illustrated by the artists Shimomura Kanzan (1 ...

[An untitled set of Japanese photographs]

[Photographer/s unidentified]. 

[Japan: publisher/studio unidentified, ca. Taishō to early Shōwa period (1910-30s?)].

A complete set of souvenir photographs of Japan. The set is more adventurous than typical landscape-centric sets, focusing on the occupations and amusements of the common people. Highlights inc ...

[An untitled surimono featuring poems by kabuki actors]

[Hasegawa], Sadanobu [II] [illustrated by]; Fukusuke, Tokizō, Danjurō ... [et al.] [poems by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. early Meiji period (1870-80s?)].

A surimono (woodblock-printed leaf) featuring twentytwo poems, seemingly all by kabuki actors, and an illustration of a flaming jewel by ...

[An untitled work based on the Kachikachi-yama folktale]

Kobayashi, Kiyochika [signature and seal of].

[Japan, ca. mid-Meiji period (1870-1900s?)]. In manuscript.

A playful hand-painted fan paper with a signature and seal attributed to the ukiyo-e artist Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915). The design is based on the folktale Kachikachi-yama and shows a tanuki ...

Asakusa Kinryuzan Kaminarimon [Kaminarimon at Kinryūsan Temple, Asakusa]

[Hasegawa], Konobu [illustrated by].

Ōsaka: Tanaka Yasu [Yasujirō], [ca. Meiji 10 (1878)]. 

Determined temple-goers hold their umbrellas aloft as they fight their way through the crowded Kaminarimon in Asakusa on a rainy night. Senshafuda (votive slips) have been paste ...

Atago-yama no Zu [Illustration of Atago Hill]

Kobayashi, Kiyochika [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. Meiji 11 (1878)].

An early example of a kōsen-ga (light-ray picture) by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), this view from the summit of Atago Hill looks out across Tokyo toward the bay. In the foreground, a man in Western dress sits smokin ...

Ataru Taishō Roku-nen Shichi-gatsu Kyōgen Sujigaki ["Sellout July 1917 Kyōgen: Play Scenario"] [with] Taishō Roku-nen Ku-gatsu Kyōgen Sujigaki ["September 1917 Kyōgen: Play Scenario"]

Kawatake, Mokuami [text by].

Kyōbashi, [Tōkyō]: Kamijō Minoji, Taishō 6 [1917].

Two sujigaki scenario-books for kyōgen kabuki performances staged in 1917 by the Ichimura-za t ...

[Bijin no Kaisuiyoku (A Beautiful Woman at the Beach)]

[Terasaki], Kōgyō [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. mid Shōwa period (1950s-1970s)?].

A woman enjoys a sunny day out at the beach in this woodblock print after a design by Terasaki Kōgyō (1866–1919). The original image appeared as a kuchi-e (frontispiece) in Bungei Kurabu maga ...

Chie no Hakari ["The Scales of Wisdom"]

Mantei, Ōga [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

Tōkyō: Kobayashi [Tsuruya] Kiemon ... [et al.], Meiji 7 [1874].

A set of three Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi issues, complete, on the perceived superiority of (Western) academic knowledge and the true superiority of the wisdom earned in labour-based work. ...

Chinbun Kanbun ["Curious Pieces of Nonsense News"]

[Suzuki, Rainosuke (illustrated by)?].

Ōsaka: Wataya Kihē, Meiji 10 [1877]. 

Issues 1-8 of this scarce Ōsaka-based periodical, bound and sold by the publisher in one volume. The bizarre cover illustration features electric cables (to which eyes and many ears are attached), a tanuki riding a stag, a fo ...

Chinshō Shinshi ["New Magazine of Rare Laughs"]

Noda, Chiaki [Takashimaya, Tōu] [edited by]; [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Kaichinsha, Meiji 11 [1878]. 

Issue two of the comical magazine Chinshō Shinshi, featuring a woodblock-printed upper wrapper in a toba-e style by Kyōsai. The illustration depicts the "Three Laughing Men at Tiger Broo ...

Chūrui Daigiron ["The Insects' Great Debate"]

Hattori [Mantei], Ōga [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrations by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Shōsetsusha Shorin, Yamazakiya Seishichi ... [et al.], Meiji 7 [1874]. 

In this Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi, the Dragon King issues a wooden placard ordering the insects of his domain to rank their own value, stating t ...

Compositions, Couleurs, Idées

Delaunay, Sonia [illustrated by]. 

Paris: Editions d'art Charles Moreau, [1930?].

The complete set of forty pochoir-coloured plates by Sonia Delaunay, issued as a portfolio of designs for textiles, wallpapers, and other decorative applications. One of the central figures of the Parisian avant-garde, Delaunay pl ...

Daishō Koyori Te-asobi: Mukashi Arishi Jūnikagetsu [Hand-play with Big and Small Twisted Paper Strings: The Twelve Months of Olden Times]

Baiso [created by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. early Meiji period (1860-80s)?].

Popular in the Edo and Meiji periods, daishō goyomi were calendars that revealed through picture-puzzles which month ...

Ōji Seishi-Gaisha Ryakuzu ["Diagram of the Ōji Paper Company"]

Ōsai [Utagawa], Fusatane [Murai, Shizuma] [illustrated by]. 

Asakusa, [Tōkyō]: Tsunashima Kamekichi, Meiji 10 [1877].

A copperplate-printed diagram of the different stages of papermaking at the Ōji Paper Company. The illustration depicts the paper mill the company built in 1875 i ...

Dōjo Hayagakumon ["Fast Learning for Young Girls"]

Hattori [Mantei], Ōga [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Shōsetsusha Shorin, Yamazaki Seishichi, Ryōkodō ... [et al.], Meiji 8 [1875]. 

The first issue (of two) of one of Ōga's works recording the author's conservative rebuttal to the image of gender equality ...

Erokan jidai no uta: Nikkatsu eiga shudaika ["Song for the age of erotic senses: theme of the Nikkatsu film"]

Itō, Kazuo [lyrics by]; Matsudaira, Nobuhiro [composed by]; Matsubara, Chikashi, Satō, Tokitarō [arranged by]; [Saitō], Kazō [illustrated by].

Tōkyō : Bikutā Shuppansha, Shōwa 5 [1930].

A harmonica score for the theme song of the film Musume ...

Okada Domain, [Okayama]: Shichiya Kojimaya, Kyōho 17 [1732].

Four woodblock-printed hansatsu, feudal scrip used in the place of legal tender. These ginsatsu ("silver notes") each represent one monme (3.75g) of silver, and were issued in Kyōho 17 (1732).

Four leaves, printed on both sides. Wear, light soiling, creases. Each leaf measures 19.7 × ...

[Four single-leaf advertisements]

Saitō, Moemon ... [et al.] [text by]; [Kobayashi], Kiyochika ... [et al.] [illustrations by].

[Japan: Kitagawaya, Gusokuya, ca. late Meiji period (1880-1900s)?].

A set of hikifuda (advertisements) produced for the bookseller Kitagawaya (Saitō Moemon) and the jihon doiya Gusokuya Kahei. The single print produced for Gusoku ...

[Koshōtei, Sanjin (edited by).

Kyōto: Maria Gabō, ca. early Shōwa period (1920-30s)].

Four colour woodblock-printed reproductions of book-envelopes and wrappers of kusazōshi books, affixed at the edges to make one large leaf. The illustrations are probably from Sōshi Monyōshū (草紙文様集), a collection published in the early Shōwa period by Maria Gabō.

& ...

[Four untitled woodblock prints from Sekka's Ashide-e]

[Kamisaka, Sekka (illustrated by)].

[Kyōto: Kamisaka Yoshiaki, Shōwa 19 (1944)]. 

Four (of six) ashide-e designed by Kamisaka Sekka (1866–1942), from Ashide-e: Sekka Isaku ("Ashide Illustrations: Posthumous Works by Sekka"). Sekka intended the six prints in Ashide-e to be used as a secon ...

Fūryū mongata kiriyō ["Elegant crest-shaped cuttings"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Tōkyō: Zenba Dankyō, Meiji 27 (1894)?].

Four booklets on cutting kamon (crests) from folded paper, bound in one. Monkiri ("crest-cuttings") could be made by cutting out a desired template from issues such as these, laying it on top of a piece of paper which had already been fol ...

Fūryū Waka Sannin: Migi [Three Fashionable Young People: Right]

Kikukawa, Eizan [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō): Yamatoya Jūbē, ca. Bunka 9-11 (1812–1814)].

A sophisticated woman sits absorbed in a Hyakunin Isshu or Sanjūrokkasen book, her coat casually draped over a hanging rack beside her. In a quiet moment between tasks, she pauses to immerse ...

Futaba ["Budding leaves"]

Tabata, Kakudō [illustrated by].

Kyōto: Yamada Unsōdō, Meiji 40 [1907].

An album of thirty full-page woodblock-printed illustrations by Tabata Kakudō. Kakudō studied under the artist Suzuki Hyakunen (1828-1891) and later became a teacher of dyeing design in Kyoto. He contributed illustrations to Unsōdō's Bijutsukai and Sh ...

Fūzoku Sanjūni-sō: Yūho ga Shitasō, Meiji-nenkan Saikun no Fūzoku [Thirty-two Aspects of Customs and Manners: A Wife of a Nobleman of the Meiji Period, Looking Like She Wants to Go for a Stroll]

[Tsukioka], Yoshitoshi [illustrated by].

Nihonbashi, [Tōkyō]: Tsunajima Kamekichi, Meiji 21 [1888] [first edition, later state].

A finely woodblock-printed por ...

Gaikoku Zōshohyō: Kan [Foreign Bookplates: Complete]

Kitamura, M. [compiled by?].

[Japan, ca. 1920s].

An album of 29 foreign bookplates compiled by the Japanese enthusiast "M. Kitamura", whose own bookplate is affixed to the upper pastedown and who has annotated several examples with the names of their bibliophile owners, artists, and donors. Included are ...

Goshomotsu ["Books"]

Kashiwaraya Takesuke [produced by].

Ōsaka: Kashiwaraya Takesuke, [ca. late Edo (1830-40s?)].

A woodblock-printed advertisement for the Osaka-based bookseller Kashiwaraya Takesuke, a firm which was active from the mid-seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century. The leaf advertises Chinese books, Japanese books, scriptures, "sto ...

Grand Concert Parisien, Rentree de Mme Bonnaire [...] 

[Concert Parisien (produced by)].

[Paris: Concert Parisien, 1890?]. 

A chirimen (crepe paper) poster advertising various acts at the Concert Parisien. One of the acts is the famous cafe performer Yvette Guilbert (1865-1944), who joined the Concert Parisien around 1889 after leaving the caf&ea ...

Hamaogishū ["Collection of Seashore Reeds"]

Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

[Japan: publisher unidentified], Meiji 18 [1885].

A short selection of poems accompanied by one woodblock-printed karazuri (blind-embossed) frontispiece signed and stamped in the block by Kyōsai. The collection of poems (probably privately printed by those in the ...

Hana momiji ["Flowers and autumn leaves"]

Yamashita, Kōsen [illustrated by].

Kyōto: Miyata Toyamadō, Meiji 34 [1901].

An album of 37 colour woodblock-printed designs for kimono by Yamashita Kōsen. The designs present a creative array of themes including rabbits, birds, umbrellas, landscapes, and insects, and occasionally feature metallic pigments and kar ...

Hana Yūjo Suikoden [A Suikoden of Beautiful and Brave Women]

Ōju [Toyohara], Kunichika [illustrated by].

Ningyochō, [Edo]: Gusokuya [Kahei], [1869].

A striking woodblock-printed triptych by Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900) depicting the heroes of the Suikoden as ten elaborately tattooed and weapon-bearing women. Each figure in the yakusha-e repre ...

Hatsugoromo ["First garments"]

Kumagai, Keiun [created by].

Kyōto: Gōmei Gaisha Unsōdō, Meiji 41 [1908].

An album of thirty colour woodblock-printed textile designs produced by the textile artist Kumagai Keiun and the little-known Futaba-kai group. The brief biography of Keiun on p. 28 of the "Ku" section of Dainihon jinbutsushi: ichimei gendai jinmei ...

Hōnen Gokoku Matsuri: Rikai Shinbun ["A Five-Grain Festival for the Abundant Harvest: Understandings of the New Culture"]

Mantei, Ōga [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

Tōkyō: Kobayashi Kiemon, Meiji 5 [1872] - [Meiji 6 (1873)]. 

One of the earliest Kyōsai-Ōga novels, on the importance of agriculture. Steele (2010) notes that ...

Tsutsumimono Orikata Hinagata ["Examples of Ways to Fold Envelopes"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Meiji period (1868-1911)?].

A collection of 54 samples of papers folded in specific ways for various occasions. Rules for the correct pre ...