Moyō gajō ["Album of patterns"]

[Artist unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. early Shōwa period (1920-40s)?]. 

An album of fourteen colour woodblock-printed patterns. Six of the patterns feature multiple colours; the remaining eight are single-colour prints. It is possible the prints were removed from a larger volume and bound in handmad ...

Musha Jūroku Musashi ["A Jūroku Musashi Game of Warriors"]

Ōsai [Utagawa], Fusatane [illustrated by].

Bakurochō, [Tōkyō]: Higuchi Gintarō, [ca. Meiji period (1880-90s?)].

A variation on a classic Japanese strategy game, Jūroku Musashi ("Sixteen Soldiers"). In the game, which is believed to have originated in the Edo period, two players first decide who ...

Muyōsei ["The Six Personalities"] 

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

[Tōkyō: Ibasen, Kaei 6 (1853)].

A complete set of uchiwa-e (fan prints) illustrated by Kunisada I (Toyokuni III) for the publisher and fan shop Ibasen (founded 1590). Each beautiful woman in this series represents one of the six days from the traditional Japanese fortune-te ...

Nanakorobi Yaoki Kaiun Sugoroku ["The Vicissitudes of Life: Game-Sheet of Fortune and Success"] 

Takabatake, Kashō [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late 20th century?]. 

A reproduction, possibly from the late 20th century, of a Taishō-era period "game of life" sugoroku, sealed in its original plastic wrapper and with its orig ...

Natsu no Sugatami ["Full-Length Mirror of Summer's Beauty"]

Nagata, Sobu [edited by]. 

Nagoya: Fusō Shinbunsha, Meiji 30 [1897]. 

A supplement published to commemorate the 3000th issue of the Nagoya-based newspaper Fusō Shinbun. The booklet adapts the popular Sanjūni Mensō ("Thirty-Two Amusing Expressions") trope and was probably inspired ...

Natsu-matsuri Ikiji no Edokko [Summer Festival Spirit of the Edoites]

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

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: [Ōta] Takichi, [1858].

The rōnin Issun Tokubē (left) fights fishmonger (and accidental murderer) Danshichi Kurobē (right) in this dramatic scene from the kabuki Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami illustrated by Utagawa Kunisada I ...

"新形友禅模様"

[Illustrator unidentified].

[Tōkyō]: Shiseidō, [ca. 1900-1920s].

A chiyogami paper illustrated with a design for yūzen dyeing of waves, flowers, and shallow sake cups marked with the character 壽 ("lucky"), woodblock-printed with a metallic pigment.

One leaf, complete. Browned, light creases, a few bumps to extremities ...

Nigatsu Yōka Kinshō no Hito Uke ni Iri ["February 8th, Luck to Those Born Under the Metal Element"]

[Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by].

Nihonbashi, [Tōkyō]: Takekawa Seikichi, [ca. Meiji period (1875-1890)?]. 

Uke-e - lucky prints - were presents sent to people entering their year of luck (whether a year was lucky for an individual was divined using ...

Noshi Shinpon ["New Book of Noshi"]

[Compiler unidentified].

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

An album containing approximately 265 tipped-in examples of woodblock-printed noshi. Noshi are folded paper decorations designed to be affixed to wrapped gifts. In earlier times, noshi were strips of dried abalone (symbolising longevity) attached ...

Luchon: Sarthe, [ca. 1909].

An advertisement for the Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese wares of antiquities dealer M. Armand Loge, who is known to have published a catalogue of East Asian art objects including carved woods, bronzes, weapons, ivories, netzuke, lacquers, and inrō from the Collection Rabeuf in 1909. The name Tagawa-ya in the bottom left of the print is proba ...

Odamaki ["Columbine"] 

Dai Nihon Zuan Kyōkai Henshūbu [edited by], Ogiwara, Kunizō [editors represented by]; Komuro, Shinzō [essay by].

Kyōto: Gōmei Gaisha Unsōdō, Meiji 40 [1907].

One of the scarcest zuan ("design") publications on zuan pedagogy. The album features eight designs selected from illustrations exhibited by the Industrial Design Dep ...

Ōdontaku Shinbun Kidan ["Great Sunday Newspaper: Stories of Demons"]

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

Tōkyō: Yamazakiya Seishichi ... [et al.], Meiji 5-6 [1872-1873]. 

Issues 1 and 2 (all published) of a Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi on the exploits of the monks Anrakubō and Narakubō in the six realms of the afterlife. Th ...

Ōmi hakkei ["Eight views of Ōmi"]

[Artist unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1840-70s)?].

A set of eight woodblock-printed nishiki-e featuring the famed Eight views of Ōmi (Ōmi hakkei). The prints use the same circular theme, decorative circular border, and poems employed by Utagawa Toyohiro in his Eight view ...

Orimono shō-e ["Textile designs"] 

[Illustrator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. late Meiji period (1900-10s)]. In manuscript.

An album of over 400 tipped-in textile designs by an unidentified artist. The designs feature flowers, plants, people, landscapes, animals, fans, butterflies, ships, and a variety of other objects. Several feature images of sol ...

Otoshidama ["New Year's Gift"]

Yamada, Jinzō [edited by].

Nagoya: Shōeidō, Meiji 26 [1893]. 

A large hikifuda (advertisement) produced for Hayashi Shinbun-ho, a shipping company based in Hamamatsu that also produced newspapers and magazines. The hikifuda is presented as an otoshidama (New Year's gift), presumably in an attempt to encourage mor ...

[Collection of Oshi-e Templates]

[Creator unidentified]. 

[Japan, ca. early to mid-Meiji period (1860-1880s)?]. 

A collection of 157 envelopes housing paper templates used to make oshi-e (raised pictures made with padded cloth). The templates would have been affixed to thick cloth, which would then have been cut to the same size as the paper. The ...

Chiyogami Monyō Hyakushu: Shiki Banshō [“One Hundred Types of Chiyogami Patterns: All Four Seasons”]

Yoshimoto, Kanon [edited by]. 

Kyōto: Shūkōsha, Shōwa 47 [1972].

An album of over 290 tipped-in examples of woodblock-printed and stencil-printed papers from the Edo to Shōwa periods. The majority of the papers are chiyogami, but examples ...

[Untitled Collection of Match Labels]

[Japan: various publishers, ca. Taishō to early Shōwa period (1910-30s)].

A collection of over five hundred Japanese product labels from the 1920s and 1930s, tipped-in to a photograph album. Most of the labels ar ...

[Japan: publishers unidentified, ca. Edo period (19th century)].

A collection of twenty woodblockprinted mamori, woodblock-printed paper amulets usually sold at temples and shrines. Most of the amulets record what the buyer will be protected from, and several are enclosed in woodblockprinted 'envelopes'.

Twenty paper amulets. Creases, mark ...

Ōsaka: [Yamakichi?], ca. early Meiji period (1870-90s)].

A set of three paper templates for cutting materials to make tabi socks or jika-tabi (shoe-like tabi), woodblock-printed with instructions. The templates have been sewn together and may have been sold as a set in this format.

Three templates, sewn together, with an accompanying hand-inscribed ...

Fuyumono ishō-zukushi ["Various winter clothes"]

Ichibaisai [Morikawa] [Utagawa], Chikashige [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Tsuji Kame [Tsunajima Kamekichi], Meiji gannen [1868].

A colourful woodblock print of patterns for winter clothing, probably designed to be cut and folded into some unknown 3D form. The artist, Utagawa Chikashige, was a pupil of Kun ...

Pengin-chō no Hanashi ["The Story of Penguins"]

Tada, Keiichi [written by]; Tada, Haruki [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Shunyōdō, Taishō Gannen [1912].

An introduction to penguins, written and illustrated by Tada Keiichi (Tada Haruki, 1883-1959). Tada travelled to the South Pole with Shirase Nobu in 1910 as the expedition's secretary/record keeper. The te ...

[Japan]: Shimomura, [ca. late Meiji to Taishō period (1900-20s)?].

An unusual image possibly featuring the son of the photographer.

One card, photograph tipped-in. Scrapes, light foxing, a few marks. 24.2 x 18.3 cm.

[Untitled Collection of Photographs]

[Photographer unidentified].

Esashi, Hokkaidō: Asakura Shashinkan, [ca. Shōwa 11 (1936)].

A collection of 24 photographs capturing various groups that travelled to Esashi, Hokk ...

Ukiyo no Nami Yume no Uranai ["A Dream Omen of the Floating World"]

[Illustrator unidentified].

[Edo (Tōkyō)?: publisher unidentified, ca. Bunkyū 3 (1863)].

A comical fūshi-e featuring people whose businesses ha ...

Reishin Gajō ["Album of Beautiful New Illustrations"]

Matsui, Yūkoku, [Furuya, Kōrin] [illustrated by].

Kyōto: Honda Ichijirō, Honda Shoten, Meiji 33 [1900].

A complete two-volume set of colour woodblock-printed designs by the little-known artist Matsui Yūkoku (fl. 1900s, sometimes read Matsui Yoshitani). The set contains a total of 51 illustrations, 5 ...

Rinhyō nishiki-shū ["Collection of brocade matchbox labels"]

[Kitagawa], Utamarō, [Utagawa], Toyokuni ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

Tōkyō & Ōsaka: Oda ... [et al.], [ca. early Shōwa period (1930s)].

An album of over 1,300 matchbox labels, mostly woodblock-printed, produced in Japan around the 1930s. The labels, which have been produced in themed sets ...

Rokusan Shingaku no Zu [Illustration of the Six-Three Study of the Mind]

Hanamata, Yoshitarō [edited by].

Kanda, [Tōkyō]: Hanamata Yoshitarō, Meiji 19 [1886].

This informational sheet tells the reader how to identify weak points on their body using a series of calculations involving their age and the numbers one to nine (each used to re ...

Ryōgoku-bashi ["Ryōgoku Bridge"]

Ichiyūsai [Utagawa], Kuniyoshi [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Edo Matsu [Edoya Matsugorō], [ca. late Bunka to early Bunsei era (1810-20s)?]. 

A somewhat roughly dressed woman peers over her shoulder at a small dog, Ryōgoku Bridge appearing in the aizuri fan-shaped cartouche in the background. The print is from a see ...

Ryū Eifuku no Hitoshinan ["Liu Yongfu Deep in Thought"] 

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

Tōkyō: Matsuki Heikichi, Meiji 28 [1895].

A fūshiga depicting Liu Yongfu, commander of the Black Flag Army, considering his troops' next move, from Kiyochika's Hyakusen Hyakushō: Shakai Gentō ("Magic L ...

Seiei ["Essence"] 

Ueno, Seikō ... [et al.]; Yamada, Naosaburō [edited by].

Kyōto: Unsōdō Gōmei Gaisha, Meiji 40 [1907]. 

Issue 14 of the design periodical Seiei produced by the famed Kyoto ...

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 ...

[Seiyō Jiki Teikokuhan ("Model of Western Time Measurements")]

[Kanshūtei (preface by)].

[Tōto (Tōkyō): publisher unidentified, ca. early to mid-Meiji period (1870-1890s)].

A small volume providing Western equivalents of Japanese time measurements. The names of daytime measurements (e.g. "the time of the snake") are printed in red, while those of nighttim ...

[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 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 ...

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 ...