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, ...

Edo no Hana Meishō-e ["The Flowers of Edo: A Collection of Famous Places"]

[Utagawa], Kunisada [II], [Utagawa], Toyokuni [III], Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Katō Sei [Katōya Seibei], [ca. Bunkyū 3 (1863)]. 

A harimaze print featuring three panels: the top panel, of a woman carrying a bentō box under cherry blossoms ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Shinpan Irozato Ken'uta Ukarebushi ["Red-light District Fist-songs, Newly Published"]

[Author/s unidentified].

Ryōgoku, [Tōkyō]: Azumaya Denzō, [ca. late Edo period (1830-50s)?].

Judging from the title and wrapper illustration, the content of this utahon is either humorous or humorous and risqué. According to Matthew Shores in A Critical Study o ...

[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 ...

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 × ...

[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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 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; ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

"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 ...

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 ...

Shinpan Ji-amari Shin-monku ["New Ji-amari Phrases, Newly Published"] 

[Creator/s unidentified]. 

Iigura Shinmachi, [Tōkyō]: Fukudaya Kichigorō, [ca. Bunka 7 (1810)?].

Two issues of humorous phrases and jokes, bound in one. Ji-amari refers to poetic compositions in which the typical number of syllables is exceeded. The word monku has an unfortuna ...

[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), ...

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 ...

Kanegura Sandaiki ["Three Generations of Treasuries"]

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

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

Three Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi bound in one, complete, on a family's economic struggles revolving around their pawnshop Iseya. The title of the moralistic work on t ...

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 ...

Katsuron Gakumon Suzume ["A Vigorous Debate by the Sparrows of Learning"]

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

Tōkyō: Murakami Jūzō, Yamazaki Seishichi ... [et al], Meiji 8 [1875]. 

The first issue (of three), in two parts, of Ōga's response to Fukuzawa Yukichi's famous work Gakumon no Susume ...

Kishō Shinbun ["Journal of Collected Laughter"]

Hashizume [Baitei], Kinzō [Kinga] [edited by]; Ōju [Tsukioka], Yoshitoshi [illustrated by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Kishōsha, [Meiji 8 (1875)]. 

Issues three, four, and seven of this scarce zasshi produced by the novelist Baitei Kinga and artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Issue three is titled Karikashi Mondō ("Questi ...

木曽路之山川
[Kisoji no Yamakawa, “Mountain River on the Kiso Road”]

[Utagawa], Hiroshige I [illustrated by].

[Japan: unidentified publisher, ca. early to mid-20th century].

A set of three unused postcards delicately woodblock-printed with Hiroshige's famous illustration of the snowy Kiso Valley. Originally printed in 1857, Mountain River o ...

Kokkei Usaharashi ["Humorous Distractions"]

Itō, Kyōtō ... [et al.] [text by]. 

Tōkyō: Kokkeidō, Meiji 15 [1882]. 

Issue seven of Kokkei Usaharashi, a magazine of short stories and kyōka, haiku, and dodoitsu poems. The publishing house that produced the magazine, Kokkeidō, was owned by Akiyama Buemon (d. 1900), a pupil of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and ...

"皇国雷名の諸君見立力競"

[Katsushika?], Masahisa [illustrated by].

Tōkyō : [publisher illegible], Meiji 15 [1882].

An engrossing triptych featuring over three hundred famous people engaged in bouts of kubihiki. Kubihiki was a Japanese game in which a looped string was placed around the necks of two people and a trial of strength would ensue. In this work, cel ...

Kokon moyō-shū: musō kōeki monchō ["Collection of ancient and modern designs: patterns to gain unparalleled profits"]

Murakami, Masatake [edited by].

Ōsaka: Maekawa Zenbē, Meiji 18 [1885].

A copperplate-engraved textbook on design, featuring ten pages of colour designs (the colours possibly woodblock-printed), the rest monochrome. Perhaps intended as a ma ...

Kudanzaka Satsuki no yoru ["A night in May at Kudanzaka Hill"]

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 rainy night at Kudanzaka. Figures seem to disappear off the edge of the world as they descend the steps i ...

Kutsu no Hiai = This Misery of Boots

Wells, H.G. [original text by]; Ōya, Sōichi [translated by].

Tōkyō : Nihon Febian Kyōkai, Taishō 14 [1925].

A translation by journalist Ōya Sōichi (1900-1970) of a work published in 1907 by the socialist Fabian Society, of which Wells was a member. In the work - an extended edition of an article published in December ...

Kyōjin Bikkuribako ["The Prideful Person's Box of Inevitable Fear"]

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

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

The first fascicle of a three-issue series produced by Ōga and Kyōsai. The two other issues in the series, Bikkuri Ch� ...

Kyōto zuan ["Kyoto designs"] 

Okada, Shikō, Shimomura, Gyokukō [edited by]; 

Kyōto: Kyōto Zuan Zasshi Hakkō-bu, Meiji 43 [1910]. 

Issues 60, 62, and 63 of series 5 of the magazine Kyōto Zuan. Each issue features colourful patterns (some lithographic), monochrome collotype illustrations, and articles on design by contributors. 

& ...

Kyū no tsukihi: shinpan hanji-e ["Days of the old (lunar) calendar: new edition puzzle-picture"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, Meiji 22 (1889)?]. 

Egoyomi ("picture-calendars") or Nanbu goyomi ("Nanbu calendars") were originally produced in the Edo period for illiterate people and grew in popularity as privately printed New ...

Light in darkness = Anchū no kōmyō

Loomis, Henry, Yoshimasu, Takasaburō [text by].

Yokohama: Beikoku Seisho Kaisha, Meiji 39 [1906].

A pamphlet recounting the story of Yoshimasu Takasaburō's conversion to Christianity, by Henry Loomis (1839-1920), a Presbyterian missionary from the US working in Japan. The short work shows through correspondences how ...

Magobē Kakkeiron ["Magobē the Manager"]; Kyōjin Bikkuribako ["The Prideful Person's Box of Inevitable Fear"]

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

Tōkyō: Yamazaki Seishichi ... [et al.], Meiji 7-8 [1874-1875].

Two Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi bound together by an ex-owner. The first issue in the volume, Magobē Kakkeiron, ...

Majinai Hyakkajo ["One Hundred Charms"] 

[Author/s and illustrator/s unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo period (1840-60s?)].

A collection of one hundred spells (majinai), "revised and reprinted", for medical ailments like toothache, earache, chilblains, colds, seasickness, burns, and insect and dog bites. Other charms address ...

Makura Jidō: kabukiza shinkyōgen ["Makura Jidō: new kyōgen at the kabuki theatre"]

Kōchōrō [Utagawa Kunisada III] [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, Meiji 25 (1892)?].

A triptych by Utagawa Kunisada III (1848–1920) depicting the eponymous Kiku Jidō (Jidō of the Chrysanthemum, also known as Jidō of the Headrest) from the play Makura Jid ...

Miyako nishiki ["Brocades of the capital"]

[Ueno, Seikō (illustrated by)?]. 

Kyōto: Honda Ichijirō, Meiji 32 (1899)].

A collection of inventive designs by an unidentified artist or artists, previously owned by the acclaimed designer and artist Ueno Seikō (1871-1943). The woodblocks for the prints were carved by Kinoshita Yūnosuke and printed by S ...

Mizugaki manji sōshi ["Notebooks for brush-andwater calligraphy"]

Asai, Shigemitsu [produced by].

Tōkyō: Manjidō, Meiji 17 [1884].

A Meiji period advertisement for mizugaki paper produced by the Tokyo firm Manjidō. Mizugaki is a type of calligraphy practice in which the brush is dipped in water instead of ink.

One loose leaf, printe ...

Mongata Kiriyō-den ["Stencils for Crest-Cutting"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. mid-Meiji period (1870-90s)?].

A playful woodblock-printed work on cutting kamon (family crests) from folded paper in a process called monkiri ("crest-cutting"). This process involves cutting out the desired template from the book, laying it on to ...

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 ...