[Collection of 39 set designs]

[Oda, Otoya ... (et al.) (illustrated by)?].

[Japan, ca. early to mid-Shōwa period (1930-70s)?]. In manuscript.

A collection of 39 set designs for performances of Japanese plays, painted in watercolours on high-quality art paper. The stage designer Oda Otoya (1921-2006) may have been responsible for the majority of the illust ...

"大しんぱん 大笑歌仙合 やさことば"

[Creator unidentified].

Gion, [Kyōto]: Yamasa, [ca. Edo period (early 19th century)].

A woodblock-printed collection of risqué poems, mostly about courtesans, published in the entertainment district of Kyōto in the early 19th century. The publisher, Yamasa, also produced kappazuri prints designed by Urakusai Nagahide in ...

Lyon: G. Véronnet, [ca. 1880s].

An advertisement for a theatrical event in Lyon featuring the Mysterious Men, Miss Nelly, Sir Robertson, and Doctor Méphisto, on flat (non-crêped) paper with decorative margins printed in Japan. The illustration features a woman and a child looking up at two cranes while an elderly man ties his shoelaces, missing the sig ...

Dai San-kai Kozeni-shū ["Third Collection of Ancient Coins"]

Shunka [produced by].

[Japan: Shunka, ca. Taishō to early Shōwa period (1920-30s)?].

A set of twelve woodblock-printed match labels featuring types of ginban - Japanese silver coins used in the Edo period. The text on each card records the year the coin was minted and/or the name of the type of ...

Dai-shin-kufū Zenmai Mawari Kage Tōrō [Grand New Ingenuity: A Spring-Wound Shadow Lantern] 

[Creator unidentified].

Horikawa, [Kyōto]: Wakuji, [ca. late Edo period to early Meiji period (1850-70s?)]. 

An instruction sheet for building a karakuri ningyō - a doll or puppet designed to move using a mechanism but appear as if it is moving independen ...

Danjo Shussan Takara no Yamairi ["Male and Female Birth: Entering the Treasure Trove"]

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

[Tōkyō]: Kodama Yakichi, Meiji 14 [1881]. 

Possibly one of the scarcest Kyōsai-Ōga creations, this allegorical map was doubtlessly inspired by the creators' collaboration on a single-sh ...

Deku no Bō ["Blockhead"]

[Kobayashi], Kiyochika [illustrated by]; Koppi, Dōjin [Nishimori, Takeki] [text by].

Tōkyō: Matsuki Heikichi, Meiji 27 [1894].

A fūshiga satirising China's loss of Port Arthur to the Japanese army, from Kiyochika's Hyakusen Hyakushō: Nihon Banzai ("Long Live Japan: One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs") series of prin ...

Dōhan gashū ["Album of copperplate prints"]

[Illustrator unidentified].

[Japan: Naitō Den'uemon, ca. early to mid-Meiji period (1870-80s)].

An album of 94 tipped-in copperplate prints from Uchida Masao's 13-volume geography textbook Yochi shiryaku ("A Compilation of Geographical Knowledge"). The prints, which were based on images found in Western ...

Dōke kyōga-zukushi ["A collection of humorous caricatures"]

[Artist unidentified].

[Tōkyō-fu: Kogaya Kotsugorō, Meiji 8 (1875)].

A colour woodblock-printed montage of six humorous scenes, featuring women selling hot beans, a trapped oni (ogre) in postage-stamp patterned robes, a Japanese man winning a game of igo ('Go') against a Chinese man, ...

[Draft illustrations for Onna Irezumi-shi ("The Woman Tattoo Artist")]

[Shimizu, Miezō (illustrated by)].

[Japan, ca. Shōwa 25 (1950)]. In manuscript.

A set of 190 draft illustrations by Shimizu Miezō (1893-1962) for the serial novel Onna Irezumi-shi ("The Woman Tattoo Artist") by Kunieda Kanji (1892-1956). The serial ran across 201 issues of the Sangyō Ke ...

Edo meibutsu: nishikie kōsaku ["The cultivation of brocade prints, a famous product of Edo"]

[Kitagawa], Utamarō [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. early to mid Shōwa period (1930-60s)?].

A woodblock-printed reproduction of the central print from Utamarō's Edo meibutsu: nishikie kōsaku triptych. The triptych was originally published ...

Edo Ryōgoku suzumi no zu ["Cooling off at Ryōgoku in Edo"]

[Kikukawa], Eizan [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Kawaguchi [Kawaguchiya Uhē], [Bunka 8 (1811)]. 

The rightmost print only of a triptych depicting a busy night scene at Ryōgoku Bridge in Tokyo. Eizan (1787-1867) studied both Kanō school and Shijō school painting styles and designed many bijin ...

[Kuniteru II (illustrated by).

Tōkyō: Monbushō Seihonjo, Meiji 6 (1873)].

An illustrated explanation of screws, featuring an image of a Western book press. One diptych from a series of prints published by the bookbinding division of the Ministry of Education in the 1870s.

Diptych, complete. Foxing, repairs to some wormholes, centre fold, a ...

Emigration at first sight: a play in one act

Douglas, Ian [text by].

London and Glasgow: Gowans & Gray; Boston: The Baker International Play Bureau, 1930. 

A charming play about a young Scottish man and woman who meet in an emigration office, the man looking to emigrate to Toronto, the woman to Auckland. Due to a lack of communication with the off ...

[Untitled set of volumes on kindergarten play methods]

Maeda, Rie [transcribed by].

[Japan, ca. Meiji 29 (1896)]. Manuscript.

A collection of three manuscript volumes providing samples of four paper play methods and instructions for kindergarten teachers. The volumes are numbered "two", "three", and "five", and it is unclear how many volumes were in the or ...

[Five copperplate-printed maps of places in Japan]

[Shuntōsai (Okada Suigetsudō)] ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Japan: various publishers, ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1840-60s)?].

A set of five maps of locations in Japan, copperplate-printed in the late Edo period to early Meiji period. The set includes one map of the city of Kyoto, one of the ci ...

Fujin Sokuhatsu no Hinagata ["Models of Chignons for Women"]

Ashihara, Kuninao [illustrated by].

Nihonbashi, [Tōkyō]: [Inoue Kichijirō], Meiji 18 [1885].

A nishiki-e providing instructions for creating five foreign hairstyles: the "Western up-do", the "Western low-style", the "Italian style", the "Italian low-style", and the "twisted thread style". Western ...

Fuku Wakashi: Takara no Iribune ["New Year's Luck at Boiling Point: Arrival of the Treasure Ship"]

Ikeda, Fusajirō [edited by]; [illustrator unidentified]

[Kyōto]: Ikeda Fusajirō, Meiji 17 [1884].

An illustrated compilation of zashiki-gei (party tricks) styled as a sugoroku (game sheet). The sheet may have been part of a party game in which particip ...

福引口訛絵 [Fukubiki Kuchinamari-e, “A Lottery Illustration of Provincialisms”]

Nagoya, Aichi: Tsukamoto Sutesaburō, [ca. Meiji 37 (1904)].

This print depicting famous figures of the early 1900s may have been used as a paper "board" game for gambling. The illustration uses a bright red pigment characteristic of Meiji period prints and features mil ...

[Illustrator not identified].

[Japan : (publisher not identified), ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1810-1870s)?].

A woodblock carved on both sides used to print a fukubiki lottery game. Fukubiki was a "popular pastime involving the drawing of lots or some similar method to win prizes".¹ This particular woodblock would have been used for a fukubiki game ca ...

Fūryū Itsutsu Karigane ["The Refined Karigane Five"]

Gototei [Utagawa], Kunisada [illustrated by].

[Tōkyō]: Izumi Ichi [Izumiya Ichibē], [ca. Bunsei 11 - Tenpō 2 (1828-1831)]. 

A complete pentatych by Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 1786-1865) featuring five beautiful women as the Itsutsu Karigane - the "five karigane blood-brothers" or the "Karigan ...

Gokuraku Dōchu-zue ["Illustrations of the Roads to Heaven and Hell"]

Ōno, Kōtarō [edited by].

Tōkyō: Ōno Kōtarō, Meiji 31 [1898].

A guidebook describing the roads, places, and significant landmarks on the course of the soul to Buddhist Hell or Heaven, offered together with the one-leaf print Seija Ryōdō Reikon no Yukue Zukai Setsumei ("Explanation of the ...

Nan'yō Keizai Kenkyūjo.

Tōkyō : Nan'yō Keizai Kenkyūjo, Shōwa 19 [1944].

A booklet in Japanese listing famous Australians and Australian residents, including convicts, explorers, artists, Royal Navy officers, geographers, and naturalists. The figures included are, in order, William Dampier, Sir George Jackson Duckett (who&nb ...

Hakurei gakuhyō ["Pleasurable critiques by the Hakurei"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Tōkyō?: Hakureisō-ren, ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1770-1870s)?].

A carved woodblock used to print advertisements for a poetry competition. The text seems to invite submissions for the contest, which is to be judged by Senryū Sōshō (possibly Karai Senryū (1718-1790 ...

Hana sekai ["World of flowers"]

Nonoguchi, Kajō [illustrated by]; Usui, Sukejirō [edited by].

Kyōto: Unsōdō, Meiji 43 [1910].

A collection of fifty kimono designs by Nonoguchi Kajō. The colour woodblock-printed designs feature flowers, birds, rabbits, butterflies, fans, landscapes, bamboo, and other traditional and modern themes. A highlight of the ...

[Hand-painted fan design] 

Inouye, Toshio [produced and/or hand-painted by].

Kyōto: Toshio Inouye, [ca. late Meiji to early Shōwa period (1900-20s)?].

A hand-painted draft of an elegant fan design produced by "Toshio Inouye" of Kyoto (probably a fan shop or design studio). The design has been painted on fabric and shows strong Art Nouveau influences; ...

[Hand-painted fan design] 

Inouye, Toshio [produced and/or hand-painted by].

Kyōto: Toshio Inouye, [ca. late Meiji to early Shōwa period (1900-20s)?].

A hand-painted draft of an elegant fan design produced by "Toshio Inouye" of Kyoto (probably a fan shop or design studio). The design has been painted on fabric and shows strong Art Nouveau influences; ...

Haru no gyokushō ["Spring's excellent compositions"]

[Creator unidentified]. 

[Ōsaka?: Murakami-ten?, Meiji 44 (1911)?]. 

An unrecorded book of thirty-three designs for New Year's postcards and twelve postcard-sized illustrations in a nanga style. A printed note at the beginning of the book suggests the work was published in Meiji 44 by t ...

Hashimotoya Shiraito no Hanashi ["The Story of Shiraito of Hashimoto-ya"]

[Tsukioka], Yoshitoshi [illustrated by].

Bakurochō, [Tōkyō]: Tsunajima Kamekichi, Meiji 19 [1886].

An ōban diptych of the courtesan Shiraito at the Hashimoto-ya pleasure house, from the Shinsen Azuma Nishiki-e ("Newly Selected Brocade Pictures of the East") series by the acclaimed uk ...

Hesochaban ["Absurd Farces"]

Ippitsuan [Keisai, Eisen] [selections by]; [Keisai], Eisen [illustrated by]. 

Nihonbashi, [Tōkyō]: Kawaguchi Uhē, Kōka 3 [1846]. 

A selection of abridged chaban (skits or farces) recorded and illustrated by the ukiyo-e artist Keisai Eisen (1790-1848), who saw the pieces performed in person. Dylan McGee (2010) provides ...

Hikanyakuōen ["Medicine for the liver and spleen"]

Ishida, Katsuhide [produced by].

Kyōto: Ishida Katsuhide, [revised in Meiji 28 (1895)].

A colour woodblock-printed leaf featuring information on Hikanyakuōen, a type of medicine claimed by the manufacturers to cure various issues with internal organs. The symptoms pictured in the lower half of the print ar ...

Hitojichi Henkan: Jizai Kyōikuhō Zukai ["Transformation of a Person's Temperament: Free Education Method, Illustrated"]

Mihara, Muneaki [book being advertised authored by].

Okayama: Ritsuma Akiko, [ca. Meiji 21 (1888)].

A copperplate-engraved advertisement for the publication of a work on phrenology by Mihara Muneaki. The misspelled English subt ...

本朝振袖之始 素盞烏尊妖怪降伏之圖 [Honchō Furisode no Hajime: Susanoo-no-Mikoto Yōkai Gōbuku no Zu, “Susanoo no Mikoto Subdues the Yōkai in Honchō Furisode no Hajime”]

Edogawa [Katsushika], Hokki [illustrated by].

[Japan: unidentified publisher, ca. Kaei 4 (1851)].

A yoko-ōban nishiki-e by Katsushika Hokki (years of birth and death unknown), a pupi ...

"細川家大火忠死誉"

Kōchōrō, Kunisada [Utagawa, Kunisada III (illustrated by)]; Kawatake, Shinshichi III [original play by].

Nihonbashi, [Tōkyō] : Fukuda Kumajirō, Meiji 22 [1889].

A triptych by Utagawa Kunisada III (1848–1920) depicting the most famous scene from the kabuki play Tsutamoyō Chizome no Goshuin (蔦模様血染御書, “The Ivy-Patterned Bl ...

[百人一首歌留多
(Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, “Cards of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets”)]

[Keisai, Eisen (illustrated by)].

[Tōkyō]: Shiba Senichi, [ca. 1850-60s].

A complete set of two hundred uncut hyakunin isshu cards (one hundred poem cards and one hundred poet cards) in eight leaves. The publisher and printer was Shiba Senichi (芝泉市), ...

[Hyakunin Isshu karuta]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Edo period (1750-1850s)?]. In manuscript.

A complete set of two hundred Hyakunin Isshu playing cards (karuta). The Hyakunin Isshu card game (a form of uta-garuta ("poetry karuta")) is based on the anthology of one hundred waka poems by one hundred poets compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in the thirtee ...

Imayō Mitate Hori Suri Ryōkō no Zu ["A Modern-day Adaptation Picturing Carving and Printing"]

Utagawa, Kunisada [Toyokuni III] [illustrated by]. 

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. Taishō period (1910-20s)?].

A simplified Taishō-era (?) reproduction of the triptych Imayō Mitate Shi-Nō-Kō-Shō: Shokunin ("A Modern-day Adaptation of the Four Classe ...

Kyōto: Miyabi-kai, [ca. 1920-30s].

An early Shōwa period invitation to an exhibition of fabrics with new dyeing and weaving designs held by the Miyabi-kai. Information about the location and time of the event appears in the illustration of the gramophone and its base when the lower moving section of the card is revolved.

One card, complete. Light di ...

[Japan]: H. Ahrens & Co., [ca. 1870-1910].

A piece of packaging for 'Turkey red' (a colour used to dye cotton fabrics) with a lithographic label tipped-in. H. Ahrens & Co. was a German trading company based in Tōkyō with branches in Yokohama and Kōbe. John Orr Ewing & Co. was the name of a prominent Turkey red firm in Scotland.

O ...

Joreishiki no Zu ["Illustrations of Ladies' Etiquette"] 

[Yasui], Kotō [illustrated by].

Nihonbashi, [Tōkyō]: Matsuno Yonejirō, Meiji 28 [1895].

A colour woodblock-printed album of scenes of elegant Japanese ladies engaging in traditionally appropriate pastimes and ceremonies. The fourteen scenes spread over eight leaves picture women exchanging N ...

Mizushima, Kōyō (Isaiah) [edited by].

Tōkyō : Seikyō Honkai Henshūjo, Meiji 39 [1906]. First edition.

A document printed to commemorate a celebration by the congregation of the Japanese Orthodox Church for the 25th anniversary of Bishop Nikolai Kasatkin (1836–1912) and his elevation to Archbishop of All Japan by the Russian Orthodox Holy Syno ...

Kachi-Kachi Mountain

Hiro, Kodō [Japanese indirectly translated by]; Thompson, David [English translation by].

Tōkyō: Hiro Kodō, Hasegawa Takejirō, Meiji 20 [1887].

A supplement to issue 1,219 of Eiri Jiyū Shinbun featuring the translation of Kachi-Kachi Yama originally used in one of Hasegawa Takejirō's famous chirimenbon (crepe-paper books). The tex ...

Kaichū Hoshi Tokei ["Pocket-Sized Clock of the Stars"]

Senshūkan Shujin [created by].

[Japan]: Marita Genryōdō, Kaei 5 [1852].

A chart of the "Twenty-Eight Mansions" of Chinese astronomy (loosely equivalent to the zodiacal constellations of Western astronomy), with text describing the locations of five mansions for each of the 24 divisions of the solar y ...

Kaichū Jūhō ["Important Treasures, Pocket-Sized"]

[Creator/s unidentified]. 

Ōsaka: Honya Kitarō, [ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1840-60s)?].

A portable booklet of charts and volvelles used in astrology for fortune-telling, featuring six woodblock-printed panels. Three of the panels feature intact volvelles used to quickly determine days and ...

Kaiunbashi Daiichi Ginkō ["Kaiunbashi Bridge and the First National Bank"]

Kobayashi, Kiyochika [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. early to mid-twentieth century?]. 

A later printing or re-carved edition of arguably Kiyochika's most famous work: a snowy scene featuring the First National Bank and Kaiunbashi Bridge in Tokyo. A se ...

Kanadehon Chūshingura, Dai-Kudanme ["The Treasury of Loyal Retainers: Act Nine"]

Kōchōrō [Utagawa], Kunisada [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Yorozuya Kichibē, [ca. Edo period (1830-40s?)].

A scene from Act 9 of Kanadehon Chūshingura, one of Japan's most popular plays, illustrated by Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III, 1786–1864). The work seems ...

Kanegura Sandaiki ["Three Generations of Treasuries"]

Hattori [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, about a family's economic struggles revolving around their pawnshop Iseya. The title of the moralist ...

Kanzeon Reigenki Hyakuban Mokuroku ["Record of the Miracles of Kannon: Index of the One Hundred Pilgrimage Sites"]

Ōju Mantei, Ōga [text by]; [Utagawa], Toyokuni [III], [Utagawa], Hiroshige [II] [illustrated by]. 

[Edo (Tōkyō): Nanden Nisanshō, Ansei 6 (1859)]. 

The index print for a series of nishiki-e listing one hundred temples from three pil ...

Katawa Musume ["The Deformed Girl"]

Fukuzawa, Yukichi [text by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Fukuzawa Yukichi, Meiji 5 [1872]. 

A short satire attacking the traditional Japanese custom of married women blackening their teeth and shaving off their eyebrows, by the famed reformer, educator, and expert on Western civilisation Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901). The work is ...

Kikkyō Kafuku Hitorihandan: Ekigaku Benmō ["Judgements on Good and Bad Fortunes: A Primer on the Study of Divination"]

Kataoka, Kenzō [edited by].

Kyōto: Nakamura Asakichi, Meiji 19 [1886].

A fortune-telling book and sangi (counting rod) set, housed in its original box. To tell one's fortune, the six rods would be thrown, and the resulting hexagram ...