Kaika jinkōki ["The enlightenment Jinkōki"]

Takahashi, Takematsu [text by].

Tōkyō: Shōgikudō, [ca. Meiji 18 (1885)].

A short book on the use of the abacus (soroban) in mathematical calculations. The Jinkōki, a text authored by Yoshida Mitsuyoshi (1598-1672, also Kōyū) in the early seventeenth century and acknowledged in the title of this work, is the ol ...

Shibata, Shūzō.

Edo [Tōkyō] : Shunsōdō, [Kaei 6 (1853)].

A guidebook of place names from around the world, recorded as "the first dictionary of place names [published in Japan]".¹ The author, Shibata Shūzō (1820–1859), was the son of a dried fish seller who lived on Sado Island in his early years. He enjoyed drawing pictures and maps of his local surr ...

Kappa Sōden Kyūrizukai ["A Kappa's Talks on Science: How to Use Cucumbers"]

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

Edo [Tōkyō]: Bankyūkaku, [preface dated Meiji 5 (1872), but printed Meiji 15 (1882)]. 

Issues six and seven of Kokkei Zansai Bukuro ("A Collection of Humorous Leftovers"), containing the full text of t ...

Kiso Kaidō Rokujūkyū-tsugi ["Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Road"]

[Keisai], Eisen, [Utagawa], Hiroshige [illustrated by].

Tōkyō: Shin'eidō, Taishō 10 [1921].

A Taishō era set of reduced-size woodblock-printed reproductions of Eisen and Hiroshige's famous Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō series originally published between 1835 and 1837. ...

Kokkei Ō-A Gaikō Chizu = A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia

Nishida, Suketarō [text by]; Ohara, Kisaburō [envisaged by]; Nakamura, Shingo [supervised by].

Ishikawa: Nishida Suketarō, Meiji 37 [1904]. Third edition.

A satirical map produced in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The work shows Russia as a giant octopus whose tentacl ...

Kōkoku ["Advertisement"]

[Company name illegible].

[Japan: publisher unidentified, ca. late Edo to Meiji period (1850-1900s)?]. 

A woodblock-printed advertisement for bunshi (文紙), described in the document as "various [blank] documents for transactions [financial, legal, or otherwise] made between people". The firm offers these printed documents at a ...

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 ...

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 ...

Manji ["Quicksand"]

Tanizaki, Junichirō [text by]; Nakagawa, Shūzō [binding designed by].

Tōkyō: Kaizōsha, Shōwa 6 [1931]. First complete (or "book") edition.

Manji, by the author and Nobel Prize in Literature nominee Junichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965), is a novel that delves into the complex feelings of love and betrayal experienced by the narrator Sonoko re ...

Manpō Eitai Shin-zassho: Nihon-zu-iri; Saigō Chōhōki ["New Miscellany of Countless Eternal Treasures, with a Map of Japan; Useful Record of Year Names"] 

[Tokanshi (selections by)?].

Edo [Tōkyō]: Tsubameya Yashichi, [ca. mid to late Edo period (1750-1770s)?]. 

An encyclopaedic sheet, woodblock-printed on both sides, providing astrological, histor ...

[Untitled Programme/Menu]

[Japan: publisher unidentified], 1923.

A programme and menu for a US-Japan themed celebration, in French. The embossed naval crest on the upper section of the card implies the event was held on a ship.

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 ...

Naniwa Shinbun ["News from Naniwa"]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan: printing house unidentified, ca. early Meiji period (1860-80s)?].

A double-sided woodblock used to print a twenty-verse hitotsutose counting song. Hitotsutose was a type of kazoe-uta counting poem popular from the Meiji to early Shōwa period. Hitotsutose sheets printed by woodblocks such a ...

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 ...

Seiyō Chie Ita Zukai Tsuketaru Zu Tehon = Ninety New Moveable Puzzles

Itabe, Masashichi [translated by].

Ōsaka: [Kanshōdō], Meiji 10 [1877].

An illustrated introduction to Western-style movable puzzles for Japanes ...

"和洋奇人傳 初編"

Jōno, Takashige [text by], Ochiai [Utagawa], Yoshiiku [illustrations by].

Tōkyō : Sanshobō , Meiji 5 [1872].

An international take on the kijinden ("eccentric figures" or "extraordinary figures") genre, featuring portraits and brief biographies of a total of 37 Japanese and Western figures, including Alexis de Tocqueville, John Britto ...

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 ...

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 ...

Koronbisu Denki ["A Biography of Columbus"]

Hirooka, Haruki [Torajirō] [translated by].

[Kumamoto?]: Seiunrō, Meiji 3 [1870].

A scarce early-Meiji text on Christopher Columbus, with two woodblock-printed illustrat ...

Ikoku monogatari: Nakanohama Manjirō ["Story of a foreign country: Nakanohama Manjirō"]

[Author unidentified]; [Kashii, Masateru (hand-copied by)].

[Japan], Kaei 5 [1852]. Manuscript.

A manuscript recounting the experiences of the Japanese boy Manjirō (later known as Nakanohama Manjirō, John Manjirō, and John Mung). In 1841, fourteen-year-old Manjirō was s ...

Jintai Mondō ["Questions and Answers About the Human Body"]

Shirotani, Ken [text by]; Nakayama, Chikakazu [proofread by].

Kyōto: Murakami Kanbē , Meiji 9 [1876].

An introductory text to the human body, presumably for schoolage students. The work includes several colour woodblockprinted vignettes of body parts and an illustration of English sign language ...

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 ...

[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 ...

[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 ...

Renpō Shōritsu ["Commercial Law of the Federation"]

[Parsons, Theophilus (original text by)]; Fujita, Kuni [translated by]; Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai [illustrated by]; Katsu, Kaishū [preliminary calligraphy by].

Tōkyō: Kinokuniya Saisuke ... [et al.], Meiji 6-7 [1873-1874]. 

A complete two-volume set of Fujita Kuni's translation of a work by the ...

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 ...

Sakigake ["The Forerunner"]

Kaneko, Kinji, Kamisaka, Sekka, Taniguchi, Kōkyō [advised by]; Furuya, Kōrin [firm headed by]; Kawanabe, Kokichi [edited by].

Kyōto: Yamada Naosaburō, Kaiseisha, Meiji 34 [1901].

Issue eleven of Sakigake magazine, featuring two pages of designs in colour (possibly printed with a mixture of lithography and halftoning) and eight p ...

Sakigake ["The Forerunner"]

Kaneko, Kinji, Kamisaka, Sekka, Taniguchi, Kōkyō [advised by]; Furuya, Kōrin [firm headed by]; Kawanabe, Kokichi [edited by].

Kyōto: Yamada Naosaburō, Kaiseisha, Meiji 34 [1901].

Issue six of Sakigake magazine, featuring two pages of designs in colour (possibly printed with a mixture of woodblocks and lithography) and eight page ...

Seiro Kinen ["Commemoration of the Attack on Russia"]

[Hamada], Josen [signed by].

[Japan, ca. 1904-1905]. In manuscript.

A political scene featuring the traditional Japanese fairytale characters Momotaro ("Peach Boy") and friends (a dog, monkey, and pheasant) storming into battle against Russian soldiers. The scroll was probably painted during or shortly ...

西洋四書：英漢對譯 大學
[Seiyō Shisho: Eikan Taiyaku, Daigaku, “The Western Four Classics: an English-Chinese Parallel Translation of 'The Great Learning'”]

[Confucius (original text by)]; Rejji, Zēmusu [Legge, James (English translation by)]; Seki, Yoshitaka [Japanese "translation" by].

Tōkyō: Yamatoya Kihē, Meiji 5 [1872]. 

T ...

占景盤図式 [Senkeiban Zushiki, “Illustrations of Tray-Landscapes”]

Suminoe, Buzen [bonkei created by]; Suminoe, Aizan [compiled and edited by]; Nagayama, Kōin ... [et al.] [illustrated by]; Tadataka, Katsu [preface by].

Kyōto: Namariya Yasubē; Edo [Tōkyō]: Tsuruya Kiemon; Ōsaka: Kawachiya Tasuke ... [and 3 others], Bunsei 9 [1826].

A complet ...

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'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 ...

Shina Taiji: Nihon Ryūkōbushi ["Popular Japanese Songs on the Extermination of China"]

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

Tōkyō: Fusōdō, Meiji 27 [1894].

A book of humorous folk songs on the First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895), written by the novelist, poet, and Maru Maru Chi ...

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 ...

Shinsaku Dodoitsu: Rokoku Seibatsu ["New Dodoitsu Poems on the Crushing Defeat of Russia"] 

Kinryū, Sanjin, Suzuki, Kōhachi [edited by].

Tōkyō: Ōkawaya Shoten, Meiji 37 [1904].

A collection of dodoitsu, kyōku, kyōka, haiku, kappore, and other poems published in support of Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The work was pu ...

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 ...

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 ...

Sōsaku hanga to hanga no tsukurikata = How to make prints: drawn, blok-cut [sic] & printed by author

Tohary, Kogan [Tobari, Kogan] [text and illustrations by].

Tōkyō: Hangasha, Taishō 11 [1922]. Later printing.

A scarce copy of this valuable resource on the process of woodblock printing by the sculptor and sōsaku hanga artist Tobari Kogan (1882-1927). ...

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 ...