Takehisa, Yumeji, and others [illustrations by].

[Japan] : Senow, Symphony ... et al., Taishō to early Shōwa period [1920-30s].

A collection of 47 pieces of sheet music published in Japan in the 1920s and 1930s. Sheet music published during this period in Japan is known for its beautiful Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs, and these examples do n ...

[Japan, ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1850-1870s)].

Semon ("back crests"), also known as semamori ("back-protectors" or "back amulets"), were designs sewn into children's kimono to prevent evil spirits from attacking them from behind or to prevent the soul from leaving the body. These two books feature a total of 76 designs hand-sewn through the paper with threa ...

Hiroshige, Andō ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Japan : publisher not identified, ca. 1920-40s].

A collection of seven colour woodblock-printed chirimen-e (crêpe-paper illustrations) printed in the Taishō to early Shōwa period, possibly earlier. The collection includes two large reproduced illustrations from Hiroshige's ‘Fifty-three Stations o ...

[Japan: publisher and creator unidentified, ca. early to mid Meiji period (1870-90s)].

A collection of fabric representations (oshi-e (押絵)) of characters from ukiyo-e. The title slips and lines of characters' clothes appear to have been cut out from woodblock-prints and laid onto various pasted-down fabrics to bring the characters to life. Some sections of the figur ...

[A kabuki-themed haikai surimono]

[Shibata], Zeshin [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, Meiji 14 [1881].

A surimono by acclaimed artist Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) featuring poems by kabuki actors and illustrated with an actor surrounded by wigs. The surimono was produced to celebrate the name-change (shūmei) of the actor Sawamura Hyakunosuke ...

[A large woodblock used for printing medical advertisements]

[Creator unidentified].

Mino-no-kuni [Gifu]: [manufacturer unidentified, ca. late Edo period (18th to mid-19th century)?].

A large woodblock used around the late Edo period for printing advertisements for taidoku medicine. Taidoku (literally "inherent poison" (i.e. a disease believed to have been ...

[A manuscript report of the death of Uheiji]

Uno, Niemon, Ōwaki, Giuemon ... [et al.] [addressed to].

[Usuki, Bungo Province (current-day Ōita Prefecture)], Kyōhō 11 [1726]. Manuscript.

A document addressed to local officials of the Usuki clan in Bungo Province reporting that Uheiji, the son of Shio (a daughter of "Jirōemon" captured in Kanbun 7 (1667) for ...

Shujū Gi wo Mamorite Nan wo Manukaru ["A Master and Servant Observe Obedience to Their Duties and a Disaster is Averted"]

Ōju [Mizuno], Toshikata [illustrated by]; [Tominaga], Toshichika [corrected by].

Tōkyō: Tsuji Keiji: Fukyū sha, Meiji 21 [1888]. "Later printing".

Kōfu sake wo tachite issei no kuwauju to naru ["To become a world-famous scholar after renouncing alcohol"]

[Kobayashi], Toshikazu [illustrated by]; [Tominaga], Toshichika [corrected by].

Tōkyō: Tsuji Keiji: Fukyū sha, Meiji 21 [1888]. "Later printing".

&n ...

[Untitled Greeting Card]

[Minister of Communications].

Tōkyō: [Ministry of Communications], 1917.

An illustrated card in French from "Le Ministre des Communications du Japon", wishing the unidentified receiver a H ...

[Set of movable type]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Meiji period (1870-90s?)]. 

A small set of hand-cut wooden movable type, probably produced in the Meiji period. The faces of the ninety pieces measure approximately 6 x 6 mm, and all depict kanji characters. The wooden tray is thought to be original. The type was probably used to print books or ...

亜墨利加國蒸氣車往来 [Amerika-koku Jōkisha Ōrai, “The Transit of an American Steam Locomotive”]

Issen [Utagawa], Yoshikazu [illustrated by].

[Tōkyō: Maruya Jinpachi, Bunkyū Gannen (1861)].

This eye-catching triptych of an American "steam train" is believed to be based on an image of the Japanese embassy arriving in 1860 in Washington, D.C., f ...

"亞墨利加洲内華盛頓府之景 銅板之寫生"

Issen [Utagawa], Yoshikazu [illustrated by].

[Tōkyō]: Maruya Jinpachi, [ca. Bunkyū Gannen (1861)].

A decidedly European depiction of Washington, purportedly based on an (asyet unidentified) copperplate engraving. A scarce aizuri-e of a foreign scene by Utagawa Yoshikazu (active ca. 1850–70), a pupil of Kuniyoshi (1 ...

Edo no Hana Ofude Hansan Shinju Kudoki ["Edo's Flowers Ofude and Hanzan: Oral Recitation of a Double Suicide"]

[Sugioka (illustrated by)?].

Bakuro-chō, [Tōkyō]: Yoshidaya Shōkichi, [ca. late Edo period (1840-60s)?].

A short song in which two lovers from different social strata make a suicide pact, believing their love to be forbidden, but are saved by ...

[An album of match labels]

Oda, Shūichi ... [et al] [commissioned by].

[Japan: privately published, ca. Shōwa 2-10 (1927-35)].

An album of tipped-in match labels produced in the 1920s and '30s when Japan's match label-collecting fad was at its peak. Most of the labels are woodblock-printed and have been produced in themed sets showcasing foreign t ...

The Hansei Zasshi: A Monthly Magazine, Vol. XIII., No. 1.

[Tsukioka], Kōgyo [illustrated by]; Inouye, Tetsusiro, Takakusu, J., Wadagaki, K., Fukuchi, M. [with contributions by].

Tokyo: The Hansei Zasshi Office, Meiji 30 [1898].

An issue of the Hansei Zasshi, "a monthly magazine in English, edited by Japanese". The editors pledge in their foreword to "repre ...

[An unidentified woodblock-printed book of moji-e]

[Illustrator unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. mid Edo period (1680-1780s)?].

An unidentified woodblock-printed book of seventeen moji-e ("character-pictures") featuring animals. The hiragana characters hidden in each illustration also appear next to each figure, providing the name of the ...

Tsūzoku Isoppu Monogatari, dai hachi-gō-bu-zu [“Aesop's Fables: illustration of number eight”]

Yamamoto, Ryūdō [illustrated by].

Kanda, [Tōkyō]: Takekawa Seikichi, Meiji 10 [1877].

An unrecorded triptych by Yamamoto Ryūdō (1845-1913), a pupil of Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831-1889), of a story from Aesop's Fables. The triptych was produ ...

[An untitled collection of kibyōshi title panels]

Kyokutei, Bakin, Jippensha, Ikku, Santō, Kyōden ... [et al.] [original works authored by]; Katsukawa, Shuntei, Utagawa, Toyohiro ... [et al] [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Tsuruya Kiemon, Tsutaya Jūzaburō, Nishimura Yohachi ... [et al], [ca. mid-Edo period (1790-1830s?)].

A collection of 27 woodblock-pri ...

[An untitled folding object]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Meiji period (1870-1910s?)].

An unusual folding object with eight small opening pockets or compartments, two slightly larger pockets, and one large pocket. An intriguing origami-adjacent object made for play or perhaps for storing small items.

One folding object, c ...

[Untitled kuchi-e print]

Sensai [Kobayashi], Eikō [illustrated by].

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

A 'collage' kuchi-e (frontispiece) by Sensai Eikō (1868-1933), feat ...

[An untitled set of fan designs] 

Inouye, Toshio [produced by].

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

A set of six hand-painted drafts for fan designs produced by "Toshio Inouye" of Kyoto (probably a fan shop or design studio). Four of the designs have been painted on fabric that is mounted on paper. The o ...

[A Sugoroku Game Featuring Various Animals]

Kokunimasa [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Fukuda Kumajirō, Meiji 27 [1894].

A paper sugoroku game illustrated with various animals, by Kokunimasa. Kokunimasa was almost certainly Utagawa Kunimasa V (years of birth and death undetermined), who used the name Baidō Kokunimasa between 1889 and 1896. Many animals foreig ...

Ansei San Heishin-reki ["Calendar for Ansei Three"]

[Creator unidentified].

Yamada, Watarai-gun, Ise: Yamaguchi Ubē, Ansei 2 [1855]. 

An Isegoyomi calendar for Ansei 3 (1856) produced in deluxe navy wrappers decorated in a gold pigment with auspicious symbols including cranes and turtles. Isegoyomi calendars were produced in and around Ise Shrine by ...

Atagoyama no Zu ["View from Mt. Atago"]

Kobayashi, Kiyochika [illustrated by].

Ryōgoku, [Tōkyō]: Matsuki Heikichi, Meiji 11 [1878].

A colour woodblock-printed illustration designed by the artist Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) of the view of Tōkyō from Mt. Atago. Kiyochika's characteristic use of shadows and areas of flat colour creates an image resona ...

Baka no Daimyōyaku ["The Idiot's Great Wonder Drug"]

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

[Tōkyō]: Shōsetsusha Shorin, Yamazaki Seishichi ... [et al.], [Meiji 7 (1874)] - Meiji 12 [1879].

A complete set of three Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi on the story of a quack doctor who invents a wonder drug that makes idiots s ...

Baren 

Yamada, Sadatoshi, Ōki, Reiko, Kobayashi, Yoshito, Tanaka, Michio ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Okayama: Okayama Bijutsu Dōkōkai Hanga Sākuru], 1959-[1961?]. 

Issues six, eight, nine, and twelve of Baren, an obscure magazine created by (and produced for) members of the Okayama Art Lovers' Printing Circle. Issue six features ten hand- ...

[Japan: maker unidentified, ca. mid-Meiji period (1880-1900)].

A paper envelope used as packaging for "Best Sugar", a product from an unknown manufacturer. The illustration has been woodblock-printed and the Japanese characters lithographically-printed. The use of Roman characters was considered a popular and stylish addition to advertisements in the Meiji period.

Bikō zukan ["A mirror of beautiful crafts"]

Hasegawa, Keika [illustrated by]. 

Ōsaka: Aoki Tsunesaburō (Aoki Sūzandō), Meiji 27 [1894].

A complete two-volume set of colour woodblock-printed patterns designed by the painter Hasegawa Keika (act. 1892-1905). The one hundred patterns included would presumably have been designed for textiles and hand-craf ...

Bukkuman = Bookman

Tosho Kenkyūkai [produced by].

Tōkyō: Tosho Kenkyūkai, Shōwa 3 [1928].

The November 1928 issue (volume 2, issue 11) of Bookman, a monthly magazine for book lovers advertised as the "Ministry of Home Affairs monthly report on the delivery of books". Aside from numerous essays on books and authors, this issue features an illustration see ...

Yūshū sakuhinshū ["Collection of outstanding works"] = Carton

Hashimoto, Chūgo [photography and printing by].

[Ishikawa]: Ishikawa Kenritsu Kōgyō Gakkō, [preface dated 1926].

A set of 156 photographic plates of textile, furniture, and ceramic designs from across the world. According to the preface, the headmaster of the industrial school that produc ...

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 ...

Cirque Soulie = Surie ["Circus Soulie"]

Chōkōrō [Utagawa], Yoshiharu [illustrated by]. 

Bakurochō, [Tōkyō]: Yamaguchiya Tōbē, Meiji 5 [1872]. 

An ehon banzuke (illustrated program or playbill) for the misemono (exhibition/carnival) by the French equestrian circus Cirque Soulie. The circus, which performed at nine locations in Japan between Meiji ...

[Collection of ephemera on female sumo wrestlers]

[Various creators].

[Japan, ca. Meiji to early Shōwa period (1880-1930s?)].

An archive relating to the activities of female sumo wrestlers in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Women were banned by the government from sumo wrestling in 1926 despite centuries of participating in the sport. The ban on wom ...

[Collection of fourteen prints]

Sekino, Jun'ichirō, Azechi, Umetarō ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Yokohama]: Chikuhōdō, [ca. late Shōwa period (1980-90s?)].

A set of fourteen woodblock-printed designs in a variety of styles by Japanese artists including (but not limited to) Mabuchi Tōru (1920-1994), Maeda Masao (1904-1974), Sekino Jun'ichirō (191 ...

[Collection of gōkan envelopes] 

[Utagawa], Kunisada, [Utagawa], Toyokuni ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Japan: various publishers, ca. late Edo period (1850-60s)?]. 

A collection of 56 colour woodblock-printed fukuro (envelopes) produced for gōkan (illustrated serial novels). The majority of the fukuro in this collection were created for the no ...

[Collection of hand-painted patterns]

[Illustrator/s unidentified].

[Japan, ca. early Shōwa period (1930s)?].

A collection of 114 pattern designs for fabrics, hand-painted on paper and produced around the 1930s. Some of the patterns (possibly designed for yūzen dyeing) are bound together with paper ties, others are loose. Several (if not all) of the patte ...

[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 ...