Seihō Ippinshū ["A Collection of Masterpieces by Seihō"]

Takeuchi, Seihō [illustrated by]

Kyōto: Unsōdō, Shōwa 12 [1937]. 

The first series, featuring 31 prints, of Seihō Ippinshū, a collection of designs by the highly acclaimed nihonga painter Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942). Produced by Unsōdō under Seihō's supervision just a few years before the a ...

 Seirō Mutamagawa ["Six Jewel Rivers in the Pleasure Quarters"]

Kikukawa, Eizan [illustrated by].

[Japan: Yamamotoya Heikichi, ca. Edo period (1814-17?)].

Tsutanosuke of the Aka-Tsutaya is depicted in this scarce nishiki-e by Kikukawa Eizan (1787-1867). This work is part of a series in which Eizan represents Yoshiwara courtesans as the six Tamagawa ...

[Yanagawa, Shunsan].

Tōkyō : Yamatoya Kihē, [ca. Meiji 2 (1869)].

A woodblock-printed booklet published to help Japanese readers understand ‘western time’ and the reading of western clock faces. The change in Japan from the old lunar calendar to the Gregorian calendar was made in November of Meiji 5 (1872), and this accordion-folding booklet would have ...

Shimeizukushi Sugoroku ["A Game Board of Various Papers"]

[Creator unidentified].

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

A Shōwa period edition of this illustrated game about papermaking and Japanese paper types. The original edition is thought to have been produced between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each panel depicts ...

Shin zuan ["New designs"]

Kamisaka, Sekka, Kaigai, Tennen ... [et al.] [illustrated by]; Nakayasu, Shinzaburō [edited by].

Kyōto: Fujī Magobē, Meiji 25 [1892]. 

Issue Nine of Shin zuan, featuring twelve full-page colour woodblock-printed patterns, mainly of plants and flowers. Each artist's name is recorded on each print's verso. Artists ...

Shin zuan ["New designs"]

Kamisaka, Sekka, Kaigai, Tennen ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

Kyōto: Gonikai Kyōto Zuan-bu, Meiji 30 [1897]. 

Issue One of the magazine Shin zuan, featuring ten full-page colour woodblock-printed patterns of plants, flowers, and landscapes. The magazine was published by the Gonikai, a group of Kyoto-based design enthusiasts. ...

Shin'an Nankyoku tanken hikōki sugoroku ["Antarctic expedition by plane: a newly devised game-sheet"]

Akashi, Akako [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Jitsugyō no Nihonsha, Meiji 44 [1911]. 

A game-sheet published during the golden era of Antarctic exploration. In the game, four players race to the South Pole, travelling through various countries including ...

Shinha Shinengeki Segidan Ichiza Hamuretsuto ["Hamlet, Staged by the New School New Theatre Justice Troupe"]

Shakespeare, William [original text by]; Yamagishi, Kayō, Doi, Shunsho [translated by].

[Japan: creator unidentified, ca. late Meiji period (before 1909)].

A Meiji era poster for a performance by the Seigi-dan troupe of Shakespeare's Hamlet, wit ...

Shinpan Katsura-e ["Illustrations of Wigs, Newly Published"]

[Utagawa], Yoshikazu [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Shiba Sen'ichi, Kaei 6 [1853].

A colour woodblock-printed omocha-e (toy print) featuring illustrations of six kabuki actors (including one onnagata actor) and 38 wigs to be cut out and placed on the actors' heads for amusement. Each wi ...

Shinpan Katsura-tsuke [Stick-on Wigs, Newly Produced]

[Takeda], Ikumaru [illustrated by].

[Tōkyō]: To [Yamaguchiya Tōbē], [Meiji 4 (1871)].

A toy print (omocha-e) designed with cut-out wigs to be arranged interchangeably on the heads of the three kabuki actors depicted below. From left to right, the figures are captioned Kanjaku, Shikan, and Sans ...

Shinpan kawari utsushi-e ["Changing magic lantern pictures: newly carved"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. mid to late Meiji period (1880-90s)?].

A set of six pochibukuro (mini-envelopes) from the Meiji period featuring shikake-e (movable illustrations). Each pochibukuro has inside it a small print that can be slid upwards to ch ...

新板おもちやづくし [Shinpan Omocha-Zukushi, “A Newly Printed Assortment of Toys”]

Kamiyama, Seishichi [illustrated by].

Shintomichō, [Tōkyō]: Kamiyama Seishichi, Meiji 17 [1884].

An omocha-e toy print featuring an assortment of tiny games, probably for children to cut out and play (or pretend to play) with. The games include a "Fifty-Three Stati ...

Shinpan Otoshibanashi ["Amusing Stories, Newly Published"]

[Creator/s unidentified].

[Japan: publisher/s unidentified, ca. late Edo period (1830-50s)?].

Two issues of short amusing tales and jokes produced in the late Edo period by an unidentified publisher. The issues, which have been bound together, each feature several short humorous stories on topics i ...

Shinsei Tobi Dango ["Consultation with a Beautiful Rabbit: A New System"]

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

[Tōkyō]: Yamazakiya Seishichi, Meiji 6 [1873]. 

A story about greed, featuring the characters Yokuno Fuzakō (a human), Saitoriya Butaroku (a pig), a dog, and a rabbit. The satire attacks the greed of the pa ...

Shinsei Yochi Zenzu [Newly-Produced Map of the Earth]

Mitsukuri, Shōgo [created by]; Ōtsuki, Bankei [preface by].

[Japan: s.n.], Kōka Gannen [1844].

A woodblock-printed world map in handscroll format produced by the schol ...

Shinsen Jinbutsu: Orikata Tehon Chūshingura, Jūichi-dan ["New Selection of Figures: Models of Paper Folding for the Eleven Acts of the Chūshingura"]; Chūshingura Orikata Denjū-gaki ["Instructions on How to Fold the Chūshingura"]

[Tsuyama, Yūzō (attributed to)].

Ōsaka: Konomura Hikosuke, [ca. Meiji period (1870-1890s)]. 

A set of two sheets prov ...

Shinshiki Sanpō: Kuku no Fuda ["Nine-Nine Cards: A New Method of Arithmetic"]

[Tsurumine, Shigenobu (devised by)].

Nagoya: Tōhekidō, Bunsei 9 [1826].

A folded sheet of instructions for performing calculations using kuku ("nine-nine") cards, together with thirty cards. A relative of the Chinese multiplication table, this kuku method was created to help pe ...

Shōmon Jittetsu ["The Ten Eminent Disciples of Bashō"]

[Creator's name illegible].

[Japan: creator illegible, ca. early Shōwa period (1930-40s?)].

A set of woodblock-printed matchbox-sized labels featuring portraits of the ten most highly acclaimed pupils of the famed poet Matsuo Bashō, together with examples of their poetry. The disciples are (left to ...

Shunkyō harimaze sugoroku ["A game sheet of miscellaneous scraps: the enjoyments of spring"]

Ichiryūsai, Hiroshige [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō): Hiranoya, ca. Bunkyū period (1860s)?].

A colour woodblock-printed sugoroku game sheet designed to resemble a folding screen (byōbu). The byōbu features decorative fans with haiku poems and illustrations o ...

Shūshū ["Collection"]

Hirō Shōeidō Ishō-bu [edited by].

Kyōto: Hirō Shōeidō, Shōwa 5 [1930]. 

Volume five of an interesting series of albums featuring colour woodblock-printed mini-envelopes (pochibukuro). The set was published between Taishō 13 (1924) and Shōwa 5 (1930) and was probably produced by the publisher/editor Hirō Shōeidō to promote the c ...

Nichiei Hakurankai Kenbutsu: Sekai Isshū Sugoroku [Sightseeing at the Japan–British Exhibition: Game of a Trip Around the World]

Nakamura, Fusetsu [created by]; Maeda, Mokuhō [calligraphy by].

Tōkyō: Asahi Shinbun, Meiji 43 [1911].

A new year's supplement produced by the Asahi Shinbun newspaper to commemmorate the 1910 JapanBritish Exhibition. ...

[Six printed items relating to Japan]

[Various illustrators].

[Japan and Germany: various publishers, mid-Edo period to early Meiji period (1669-1840s?)].

Six printed items available as a set, including four Japanese copperplate-printed leaves (including three mounted on card), one copperplate-printed leaf from Montanus (showing Hirado), and one pocket-siz ...

Souvenir and programme of the visit of Prince Fushimi to England

[Author unidentified].

London: Burgess William & Co., [ca. 1907].

A crepe-paper poster detailing Prince Fushimi Sadanaru's itinerary for his 1907 trip to England and Scotland. The poster features a colour woodblock-printed floral frame and movable-type printed text. Although the state ...

Paris: P. Gayda, 1903.

A souvenir for a fête celebrating Franco-Italian relations, on crêped paper and with decorative margins woodblock-printed in Japan. The margins - four humorous "comic strips" read right to left and top to bottom - feature what appear to be sisters having their ponytails tied together by a child, a man falling for a child's prank and ...

Tagoto-hime, Jiraiya ["Tagoto-hime and Jiraiya"]

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

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Ebisuya, [1852].

A colourful depiction by Toyokuni III (Utagawa Kunisada) of Jiraiya (probably played by Ichikawa Danjuro VIII) and Princess Tagoto (probably Iwai Kumesaburo III) from the play Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari. The pattern on Princess Tagot ...

Takanawa Ushimachi oborozuki no kei ["Hazy moonlight at Ushimachi, Takanawa"]

Kobayashi, Kiyochika [illustrated by].

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

A later printing or re-carved edition of Kiyochika's illustration of a steam train passing through Ushimachi, Takanawa. Shadows of passengers adorn the carriages ...

Tegarabanashi ["Bragging"]

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

Tōkyō: Matsuki Heikichi, Meiji 28 [1895].

A fūshiga picturing a man bragging about his heroic deeds in the Sino-Japanese War, from Kiyochika's Hyakusen Hyakushō: Shakai Gentō ("Magic Lantern of Society: One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Lau ...

Kedamono Shiyo Shoku-zukushi ["The Various Jobs of Beasts"]

[Utagawa], Koyoshimori [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Jōkin [Jōshūya Kinzō], Keiō 3 [1867].

A satirical giga print on the daily jobs of animals by ...

Musume no Hitokoroshi ["The Murderous Girl"]

[Author/s unidentified].

Morioka, Iwate: Sō Suekichi, Meiji 25 [1892].

A counting song in twenty verses about Ohana-san, a murderous girl who prowled the Hibara Pass in Yonezawa. An example of a kazoe-uta from the mid Meiji period, probably kappazuri (stencil) printed.

One volume, presumed ...

Chobokure Chongare: Ōshū Kasamatsu Tōge Onna Tōzoku ["Chobokure Chongare: The Woman Bandit of the Kasamatsu Pass in Ōshū"]

[Author/s unidentified].

[Japan: Kanesen, ca. mid Edo period (1820-40s)?].

Part one of the chobokure edition of the story of Kijin no Omatsu, one of the "Three Greatest Bandits of Japan". In the chobokure version of the story, Omatsu ...

Chobokure Chongare: Shirai Gonpachi Komurasaki Hiyoku Tsuka Monogatari ["Chobokure Chongare: The Story of the Grave of the Tragic Lovers Shirai Gonpachi and Komurasaki"]

[Author/s unidentified].

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

A chobokure chongare adaptation of the story of murderer and robber Shirai Gonpachi (Hi ...

Berlin: Julius Rosenthal Filiale, 1892.

A crêped poster for a series of events, including an operetta, ballet, and music, at the Unter den Linden theatre, with decorative margins woodblockprinted in Japan and text printed with movable type in Berlin. The events were directed by Alois and Rudolf Ronacher, and featured "The World in Illustrations and Dance", with ima ...

[Three postcards designed to commemorate a track-andfield event]

[Illustrator/s unidentified].

[Kanazawa]: Shikō Rikakai, [ca. 1925].

Three abstract postcards designed by the physical science club of the Shikōtō Gakkō high school to commemorate a track-and-field event. The high school was founded in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in 1887, and was known fo ...

[Three woodblocks] 

[Komatsuya (one block-face illustrated by)?].

[Japan: publishers unidentified, ca. Edo to Meiji period (1750-1910s)?].

A collection of three woodblocks used for printing in the Edo and Meiji periods. The earliest woodblock features an illustration on one side and part of another work on the other. The latter, evidently an earlier w ...

Shin'an Kyōiku Kuku Garuta ["New Ideas for Education: Multiplication Table Cards"]

[Creator unidentified]. 

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Meiji period (1900-1910s)?]. 

Two uncut kappazuri (stencil-printed) sheets of educational playing cards for school-age children. The number in the top right of each picture card is the answer to ...

[Title unidentified]

[Artist unidentified].

[Tōkyō: Chūō Hyōron-sha, ca. mid-Shōwa period (1950-60s?)].

A small printing block for a strip comic that probably appeared in a publication by the Chuō Hyōron-sha (the Chuo University Review), as this company name is inscribed on the side of the block. The strip seems to show a man being thrown out of an o ...

Tōken Gonbē ["Tōken Gonbē"]

Kinchōrō [Utagawa], Yoshitora [illustrated by].

Shijin [Shiba Daijingū], [Tōkyō]: Aritaya [Seiemon], [ca. Tenpō 14 to Kōka 4 (1843-1847)]. 

Tōken Gonbē was a loyal yet fearsome machiyakko (ruffian street gang) leader whose eventful life eternalised him as a popular kabuki hero after his beheading in 1686. An ally of the st ...

Tomonoura Harbour

Yoshida, Hiroshi [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. 1985].

A later printing of Yoshida Hiroshi's 1930 Tomonoura Harbour, produced by his son Yoshida Toshi in commemoration of a catalogue of Hiroshi's works published around 1985. An interesting feature of this particular print is that the black outlines of the ke ...

"健胃強神　古加葡萄酒"

Yokohama: Meiji-ya, Meiji 27 [1894].

Tonic Coca Wine was a popular drink in Europe in the late 19th century, and, as can be seen from the images of medals in the illustration above, won numerous awards at expositions. The concoction is advertised here as a French-made must-have for the healthconscious buyer: a "strengthener of the entire sys ...

Tōsei Rikō Musume ["A Clever Woman of the Present Day"]

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

Tōkyō: Yamaguchiya Tōbē, [Meiji 6 (1873)].

A response to Fukuzawa Yukichi's Katawa Musume (1872), Tōsei Rikō Musume is one of the earliest works Mantei Ōga and Kawanabe Kyōsai produced together in this ephe ...

Tsuki to Supponchi ["The Moon and a Supponchi"]

Shinoda, Kyūjirō [edited by]; Mantei, Ōga, Kanagaki, Robun, Baitei, Kinga ... [et al.] [supplemented by], Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai, Tsukioka, Yoshitoshi ... [et al.] [illustrated by]. 

Tōkyō: Kōshūsha, Meiji 11-12 [1878-1879].

Issues 1 to 20 of Tsuki to Supponchi, a satirical newspaper edited by Shin ...

[Two albums of woodblock-printed ephemera]

[Illustrators unidentified].

[Tōkyō: Miyake Mokuhan Surisakuho, ca. mid-Shōwa period (1950s)].

Two albums of tipped-in ephemera, including menus, invitations, advertisements, and New Year's cards, woodblock printed for a range of Tokyo-based clients by the Miyake Woodblock Printing Store. Several prints provid ...

Harada, Takeyoshi.

Oosakimaci, Ebaragun, Tokio : Redaktejo Sekaigo Soin, 1913-1914. 

Two issues, December 1913 (number 26) and May 1914 (number 31), of the journal `Orienta Azio`. `Orienta Azio`, printed in Esperanto and Japanese, was published monthly between 1911 and 1916 in Tokyo by the Sekaigo Shoin run by Hara ...

Watanabe, Kazan ... [et al.][illustrated by].

[Tōkyō?] : Nippon Yūsen Kaisha, 1928.

Two colour woodblock-printed one-leaf menus from the S.S. Hakozaki Maru and the Taiyō Maru. The menu from the S.S. Hakozaki Maru (Commander T. Sekine) is dated Thursday, 2nd August, 1928, and the Taiyo Maru menu is dated Sunday, January 29th, 1928. Both sh ...

Udaijin Michizane Kō ["Minister of the Right, Michizane"] 

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

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Jōshūya [Shigeshichi], [1860].

A beautiful impression of this portrait by Toyokuni III (Utagawa Kunisada) of Kataoka Nizaemon as Sugawara no Michizane in the play Tenmangū Rishō no Kamimagaki. The pattern on the coat features stunnin ...

[Untitled collection of hand-painted and printed illustrations] 

[Illustrators unidentified].

[Japan: Ōtsuka Kōgei-sha ... (et al.), ca. Taishō to early Shōwa period (1920-30s)?].

A miscellany of printed and hand-painted illustrations on paper and card. At least five of the shikishi (poem and art cards) have been hand-painted. Two of the shikishi feat ...

[Untitled collection of photographs]

[Photographer unidentified].

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

A collection of beautiful and striking photographs of Japanese infrastructure and architecture by an unidentified photographer. The seven sepia and monochrome photographs of cranes, bridges, buildings, and ships, have each been mounted on ...

[Untitled compilation of illustrations of beautiful women by famous artists]

Inaba, Keikichi [edited by].

Tōkyō: Tsūshin Shinbunsha, Meiji 24 [1891].

A woodblock-printed compilation of illustrations of beautiful women from famous artists including (but not limited to) Toyokuni, Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, Hokusai, Utamaro, Eisen, Tsunenobu, Yoshitada, Kōsen, Mo ...

[Untitled diptych of a woman in snow]

Kōchōrō [Utagawa], Kunisada [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Sanoki [Sanoya Kihei], [ca. Bunka 12 - Tenpō 13 (1815-1842)?].

A diptych by Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III, 1786-1864) of a woman (possibly the character Osono from Kanadehon Chushingura ("The Treasury of Loyal Retainers")) in a beautiful dark blue kosode a ...

[Untitled folding object]

[Creator unidentified].

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

An unusual folding object with small opening pockets or compartments, constructed from a colour woodblock-printed omocha-e toy print. Genjikō (Genji Incense) patterns appear on the inner panels of the object and on the eri collar of the elegant woman adorning the fro ...