Kishō Shinbun (Journal of Collected Laughter)

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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 ("Questions and Answers on Borrowing and Lending"), four is titled Kōshirō, Shakazō, Yasohachi no Heikō ("The Embarrassment of Confucius, Śākyamuni, and Jesus"), and seven is titled Seiyō Nozoki Megane ("Peeping Glasses from the West"). The style of Yoshitoshi's illustrations and the format of the issues mimic those of the slightly earlier Kyōsai-Ōga zasshi (which, in turn, resemble the usumono published in the Edo period by publishers like Yoshidaya Shōkichi). This is unsurprising, as Kinga was a good friend of Mantei Ōga and a pupil of Kawanabe Kyōsai, and Yoshitoshi, like Kyōsai, was a pupil of Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Furthermore, Yoshitoshi and Ōga produced the Kyōsai-Ōga-style zasshi Ijō Ibutsu Kakurankai together in 1875, the same year Kishō Shinbun was published. Kinga wrote for Maru Maru Chinbun and Kibi Dango amongst other periodicals and provided the text for the four-volume work Kyōsai Gadan in 1887. Eleven issues in total of Kishō Shinbun were produced within two months, after which the publisher went bust. No physical copies traced outside of Japan in OCLC. 

Issues 3, 4, and 7. Three karitoji-bound volumes, complete, on double leaves, traditional East Asian binding style (fukurotoji). Large but light stains and soiling to wrappers. Kaisei-in seals to upper wrappers. Publisher's stamps to first text page of issue 7, colophon of issue 4, and upper wrappers. Leaves lightly thumbed and rubbed. Previous binding holes present. 8; 8; 8 leaves. 21.8 x 15 cm.

Kishō Shinbun (Journal of Collected Laughter)
Price: $2,150.00 (USD)