Shukka Hōkoku ["Shipping Report"]

[Tomimura Naokichi Shōten (commissioned by)].

Tōkyō: Tomimura Naokichi Shōten, [ca. Meiji period (1870-90s?)].

A woodblock used at the Nihonbashi-based firm Tomimura Naokichi Shōten to print shipping forms. Although illegible, the item being sent (possibly a gathering of fabric) must have been shipped often by the compa ...

Sōchū Kakifu [Illustrated Manual of Flowers and Insects]

Wang, Shi, Wang, Gai, Wang, Nie [illustrated by].

Kyōto: Hishiya Magobē/Gosharō, [ca. late Edo period (1810s-1850s?)]. 

The fourth and final section of Hishiya Magobē's twenty-three-volume wakoku-bon (Japanese woodblock edition) of the celebrated Kaishien Gaden (Manual of the Mustard Seed G ...

Taiyō Shinwa: Tako no Nyūdō Uo Sekkyō ["The Bald Octopus's Sermon to the Fish: A New Story from the Ocean"]

Kanagaki, Robun [text by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Zonseikaku ... [et al.], [preface dated Meiji 5 (1872)]. 

In this apologue by Robun, who was the son of a fishmonger, the Dragon King hears of social refo ...

"武村式安全搾乳・哺乳兼用器"

Ōsaka: Takemura Shōkai, [ca. late Meiji period (1890-1910s?)].

An advertisement for breast-pumps made by Ōsaka-based company Takemura Shōkai, featuring a photograph of a woman using the device.

One card, photograph tipped-in. Mild foxing, corners lightly bumped, small tear to photo. 19.5 x 13.3 cm.

Tenth Annual Exhibition: Contemporary Lithographs, Serigraphs, Stencils, Intaglio, Combined Medium, Concrete, Iron and Woodblock Prints

College Women's Association of Japan [produced by].

Tokyo: College Women's Association of Japan, 1965.

A catalogue for the tenth annual print exhibition organized by the College Women's Association of ...

Tsutamoyō Chizome no Goshuin ["The Ivy-Patterned Blood-Stained Seal"]

[Kawatake, Shinshichi III (original play by)].

Shintomi-machi, [Tōkyō]: Shintomiza, Taishō 3 [1914].

A shibai banzuke playbill for a performance of the nanshokuthemed kabuki play Tsutamoyō Chizome no Goshuin at the Shintomi-za theatre, Tōkyō, at 3 p.m. on October 8, 1914. Four vignette ...

[Japan: workshop unidentified, ca. mid to late Meiji period (1880-1910s)].

A charming set of plates featuring scroll, tanzaku, and traditional wahon designs. The image of Mt. Fuji in the wahon illustration may have been inspired by works like Hokusai's Fugaku Hyakkei and Hiroshige's Fujimi Hyakuzu.

Three plates, with a few stains and ma ...

[Three illustrated envelopes]

[Ogawa, Usen (original designs by)].

[Kyōto]: Kineya: Kyō-tsukushiya, [ca. early to mid-Shōwa period (1930-40s)?].

Three woodblock-printed envelopes based on designs by Ogawa Usen (1868-1938). The leftmost illustration seems to depict a person dancing with a fan at night in front of a large statue of a religious or historical ...

Timetable: Royal Netherlands-Indian Airways, K.N.I.L.M.

[Statement of responsibility unidentified]; Ludberg [illustrated by]

Batavia: Royal Netherlands-Indian Airways, [1933]. 

A timetable of flights between Batavia, Bandoeng, Semarang, Sourabaja, Palembang, Pakanbaroe, Medan, Singapore, and Alorstar, produced by Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luch ...

Tōsei Karitaku Saiken Kagami ["Mirror of a Guide to Temporary Lodgings"]

Chōkarō [Ochiai/Utagawa], Yoshiiku [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: [Ōtaya] Takichi, Bunkyū 2 [1862].

A woodblock print featuring an illustration of a courtesan and child and a ranking of courtesans of the Nakagawa pleasure house, designed by Ochiai (Utagawa) Yoshiiku (1833-1904). Ka ...

Treatise on Silk and Tea Culture and Other Asiatic Industries Adapted to the Soil and Climate of California

Kendo, T. A.

San Francisco: A. Roman & Co., 1870.

A detailed description of the processes of tea cultivation and sericulture by the Japanese immigrant T.A. Kendo. By mid-1869, "[s]everal hundred Japanese were reported settling with the intention ...

Tenji Ōsaka Mainichi = The Braille Mainichi

Nakamura, Kyōtarō [edited and printed by].

Ōsaka: Ōsaka Mainichi Shinbunsha, Taishō 12-16 [1923-1927].

Two issues - the November 8th issue from Taishō 12 (issue 79) and a special New Year's issue from Taishō 16 (issue 242) - of The Braille Mainichi, one of Japan's earliest braille newspapers. Both issues ...

[Two untitled sketchbooks by an amateur artist]

Tanaka, Yūtai [illustrated by].

Ōsaka, Shōwa 11-15 [1936-1940]. In manuscript.

Two sketchbooks of stunning landscapes in pencil and watercolours by Tanaka Yūtai, an amateur Yōga (Western-style) artist. Most of the illustrations, which depict factories, ports, ships, people, and landscapes in and around Osak ...

[Japan, Shōwa 12 (1936)?]. Manuscript.

A letter in morse code to a Mr. Shimizu Ichirō of Mie Prefecture. The content is unknown, but the sender seems to have been a field army soldier fighting in the Second SinoJapanese War.

Two manuscript leaves with original opened envelope, lightly stained. 22.7 x 17.3 cm.

Ukiyo Karakuri Seiyō Megane ["The Machinations of the Floating World Through Western Lenses"]

Oka, Jōki [Kawahara Eikichi] [text by], Kanagaki, Robun [proofread by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Bankyūkaku, [preface dated Meiji 6 (1873)].

The complete first series (all published) of a little-known collaboration between Robun, ...

[Untitled advertisement for Kyōryūsha]

Ryūtei, Tanehiko [text by]; [Nagai], Sogaku [calligraphy by]; [Ogata], Gekkō, [Inano], Toshitsune, [Takimura], Hirokata [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Kyōryūsha, Meiji 18 [1885]. 

A colour woodblock-printed advertisement for the Tokyo publisher Kyōryūsha, with text by acclaimed author Ryūtei Tanehiko and illustrat ...

[Untitled album of copperplate-printed illustrations]

[Compiler unidentified]. 

[Japan: publisher/s unidentified, ca. late Meiji period (1905-1915?)].

An album of 86 tipped-in copperplate-printed illustrations of famous locations around Japan. Many of the landscapes, among them Mt. Fuji, Kamakura, and Nara, are provided with captions and rendered ...

[Untitled album of surimono] 

[Utagawa], Kunisada, [Shibata], Zeshin ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Japan, ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1820-70s?)]. 

An album featuring 34 tipped-in surimono (privately commissioned woodblock prints) produced in the Edo and Meiji periods. The examples include poetry-themed haikai surimono illustrated with ...

[Untitled album of tipped-in photographs of the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden]

[Hagiwara, Gorō (compiled by?)].

[San Francisco, ca. 1930s]. 

An album containing sixteen large tipped-in monochrome photographs captured around the 1930s of the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. The verso of the upper wrapper of the album bears the signat ...

[Untitled book of hand-sewn amulets]

[Creator unidentified]. 

[Japan, ca. late Edo period (1800-60s?)].

A small but lovingly assembled book of 25 hand-sewn semamori designs. Semamori or semon ("back crests" or "back-protectors") are designs traditionally sewn into children's kimono to prevent the soul from leaving the body or evil spirits from att ...

[Untitled collection of six uchiwa-e]

Suzuki, Kiitsu, [Shibata], Zeshin, [Takahashi], Ōshin [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo to early Meiji period (1850-70s?)].

A collection of six woodblock-printed uchiwa-e (fan prints) featuring seasonal plants and flowers including irises, maple leaves, and gourds. The prints featuring iris ...

[Untitled fan print]

[Kamisaka], Sekka [illustrated by].

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

A fan-shaped woodblock print featuring a spool of (silk) thread, a silk moth, three silkworm cocoons, and mulberry leaves, designed by the acclaimed Neo-Rinpa artist Kamisaka Sekka (1866–1942). 

&n ...

[Untitled kabuki print]

Ichiyūsai [Utagawa], Kuniyoshi [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Jōkin [Jōshūya Kinzō], [ca. 1847-1853]. 

A vivid colour woodblock-printed ōban yoko-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicting characters from the kabuki play Shibaraku (or a work derived from it). The composition is dominated by the dramatic kumadori makeup and the promin ...

[Untitled painting]

[Yoshizawa, Renzaburō (painted by?)].

[Japan, ca. early Shōwa period (late 1930s-1940s)]. Oil painting.

A painting featuring a mother and her baby believed to have been rendered by the illustrator Yoshizawa Renzaburō (1893-1967). Yoshizawa was a Western-style painter who studied under Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924) and was prolific in produ ...

[Untitled photograph of the premises of "T.I. Yonemitsu, Jeweler & Watchmaker"]

[Photographer unidentified].

[Vancouver: studio unidentified, ca. 1930-40s].

A curious photograph of the owner, cigarette in hand, and premises at 220 Main Street, Vancouver, of the Japanese watchmaker and jeweler T.I. Yonemitsu. An advertisement for "Big Ben: rings on ...

[Untitled set of albums depicting military figures from Chinese history]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. late Edo period (1800-1850s?)]. In manuscript.

A set of two manuscript albums containing portraits and brief biographies of thirty-six military generals, military strategists, or politicians from Chinese history. Some of the figures included are ...

[Untitled surimono depicting Urashima Tarō and a turtle]

Yanagawa, [Shigenobu] [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Meiji to Taishō period (1890-1920s)?].

A Meiji to Taishō-era printing of this shikishi-ban surimono illustrated by Yanagawa Shigenobu (1787-1832), one of Katsushika Hokusai's pupils. The charming woodblock print, pa ...

[Unidentified Awa Shōami school craftsperson].

[Japan: workshop unidentified, ca. late Edo period (18th to mid-19th century)].

A stunning iron tsuba (sword guard) for a katana sword, forged in the late Edo to early Meiji period and decorated with golden books using traditional nunome-zōgan cloth-weave inlay techniques. The tsuba comes with a ninteis ...

[Untitled work on silk]

[Artist's signature illegible].

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

A simple but elegant painting on silk of a beautiful woman, from around the early twentieth century.

One illustration hand-painted on a silk scroll. A few creases and marks, extremities frayed in places. Na ...

Usokurabe mitate hyōbanki

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo period (mid-19th century)].

A mitate hyōbanki or banzuke of oft-used lies. The 'winners' of the ranking are "the young person who says they hate women" and "the old person who says they want to die quickly" - these people are presumably accused of telling ...

Bertrand [illustrated by].

[Spain: publisher unidentified, ca. 1876].

A Western interpretation of famed publisher Tsuruya Kiemon's bookstore in Tōriaburachō, based on an illustration of the same shop from the multivolume Edo Meisho Zue (ca.1834).

One loose leaf, possibly removed from a book by a previous owner. Light discolouration to&nbs ...

Watashi no Nankyoku Tanken-ki [My Account of the Antarctic Expedition]

Shirase, Nobu [text by].

Tōkyō: Kōkoku Seinen Kyōiku Kyōkai, Shōwa 18 [1943]. Third edition.

A re-titled and re-packaged edition of Shirase Nobu's Nankyoku Tanken published during wartime. This copy is from the third edition, printed less than six months after the first edition ...

"Yamadenai yama, kawadenai kawa: mitate sumo"

Nanritei [created by].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo period (mid-19th century)].

A ranking of words and names (often those of brands) ending with yama ("mountain") that are not themselves the names of mountains, and the same for rivers (kawa). Nanritei (1782-1860) was a yomihon and gesaku author ...

Yukihisa Isobe Exhibition

Isobe, Yukihisa [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Tokyo Gallery, 1964.

A catalogue from an exhibition of works by Yukihisa Isobe (1935-) held in Tokyo in April of 1964. The card folder features four panels (three on the recto, one on the verso) that open to reveal scenes on loosely inserted cards. The cards can be removed from the outer ...

[Zuan Fukusa Awase (Design Combinations for Fukusa)] 

Kajita, Hanko, Kawabata, Gyokushō ... [et al.] [illustrated by]; [Nagai, Sogaku, Kubota, Beisen (edited by)]. 

[Tōkyō: Ōkura Shōten, Meiji 27 (1894)]. 

A curated album of colour woodblock-printed designs for tea ceremony fukusa, assembled from two volumes of Zuan fukusa awase. In the tea ...

[Untitled woodblock print]

[Artist unidentified].

Tōkyō: Shibakawado, [ca. Taishō period (1910-20s)?].

A woodblock-printed leaf featuring two designs for Christmas and New Years’ greeting cards. The cards may have been produced for Japanese people to send to English-speaking friends, or as souvenirs for foreign tourists to send back to friends in the ...

[Sansui Ryakugashiki (Guide to Drawing Landscapes Simply)] 

[Kuwagata], Keisai [Kitao, Masayoshi; Keisai, Masayoshi] [illustrated by]. 

Naniwa [Ōsaka]: Fukusada Tōhē, Bunka 10 [1813]. 

A scarce edition of Keisai's "guide to drawing landscapes simply". In Sansui Ryakugashiki, renowned artist Keisai Masayoshi (1764-1824, also known as Kita ...

Nihonbashi, Tōkyō, and other locations : Maruya Shōten, Kawashima Shōten ... [et al.], ca. early 1900s.

A collection of six sample booklets containing a total of 128 tipped-in squares of beautiful real Japanese fabrics. These folding booklets would have been shown by scroll-mounters to customers, who would then pick fabrics to be used in the mountings of their scroll ...

"油町製本菜種黄表紙"

Ryūtei, Senka [Tanehiko II] [text by]; Utagawa, Sadahide [illustrated by].

[Tōkyō]: Tsuruya Kiemon, Tenpō 5 [1834].

A gōkan about which no research in Japanese or English has been located, but which may revolve around bookbinding or publishing. The publisher, Tsuruya Kiemon, was based in Tōriaburachō, the well-known "book street" me ...

[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 ...

[A child's jinbaori coat decorated with peaches and crests]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Edo period (17th to mid-19th century)?].

A child's decorative surcoat or overcoat for use outdoors, with kamon crests sewn on the back. The cute peach design on the front alludes to the popular tale of Momotaro, and this design and the jacket's size ...

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 collection of practice paintings by a student artist]

[Illustrator unidentified].

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

A collection of 29 leaves of paintings of animals and people produced by a burgeoning artist for practice. The paintings are largely copied from artworks by notable artists including Miyagawa Chōshun (1682-1752) and Iwa ...

[An untitled manuscript on the Tokugawa administration]

[Author unidentified].

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

A manuscript on the Tokugawa shogunate's civil government system, previously owned by or prepared for the diplomat and eventual British Consul-General John Carey Hall (1844-1921). Hall, who was born in Northern Ireland, came ...

A walk through Japan, 1877

Goff, Lieutenant-Colonel [Robert Charles] [text by].

London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, 1878.

A privately published record of an 1877 trip through Japan by Lieutenant-Colonel Go ...

Yoshū Mame Tengoku ["Foreign Liquor Heaven"]

Yoshū Mame Tengoku Henshū-bu [text by]; Yanagihara, Ryō hei [dust jackets designed by].

Tōkyō : Santorī, Shōwa 42-45 [1967-70].

A complete 36-volume set of the Yoshū Mame Tengoku series published by Suntory. The set of miniature books includes photographer Akiyama Shōtarō's Bijo Tori Monogatari ("A ...

[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 ...

Ranjin Tokoromi Gachirin Shinzu ["True Image of the Moon, as Observed by the Dutch"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. mid to late Edo period (18th century to early 19th century)]. Manuscript on paper, mounted on fabric scroll.

A fanciful rendering of the face of the moon, complete with Western ships and explanatory text purporting that 'Westerners&# ...