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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

[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 ...

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 ...

[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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

[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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

[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 ...

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 ...

Kedamono Shiyo Shoku-zukushi ["The Various Jobs of Beasts"]

[Utagawa], Koyoshimori [illustrated by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)]: Jōkin [Jōshūya Kinzō], Keiō 3 [1867].

A satirical giga print on the daily jobs of animals by ...

Musume no Hitokoroshi ["The Murderous Girl"]

[Author/s unidentified].

Morioka, Iwate: Sō Suekichi, Meiji 25 [1892].

A counting song in twenty verses about Ohana-san, a murderous girl who prowled the Hibara Pass in Yonezawa. An example of a kazoe-uta from the mid Meiji period, probably kappazuri (stencil) printed.

One volume, presumed ...

Chobokure Chongare: Ōshū Kasamatsu Tōge Onna Tōzoku ["Chobokure Chongare: The Woman Bandit of the Kasamatsu Pass in Ōshū"]

[Author/s unidentified].

[Japan: Kanesen, ca. mid Edo period (1820-40s)?].

Part one of the chobokure edition of the story of Kijin no Omatsu, one of the "Three Greatest Bandits of Japan". In the chobokure version of the story, Omatsu ...

Chobokure Chongare: Shirai Gonpachi Komurasaki Hiyoku Tsuka Monogatari ["Chobokure Chongare: The Story of the Grave of the Tragic Lovers Shirai Gonpachi and Komurasaki"]

[Author/s unidentified].

Bakuro-chō, [Tōkyō]: Yoshidaya Shōkichi, [ca. late Edo period (1840-60s)?].

A chobokure chongare adaptation of the story of murderer and robber Shirai Gonpachi (Hi ...

Berlin: Julius Rosenthal Filiale, 1892.

A crêped poster for a series of events, including an operetta, ballet, and music, at the Unter den Linden theatre, with decorative margins woodblockprinted in Japan and text printed with movable type in Berlin. The events were directed by Alois and Rudolf Ronacher, and featured "The World in Illustrations and Dance", with ima ...

[Three postcards designed to commemorate a track-andfield event]

[Illustrator/s unidentified].

[Kanazawa]: Shikō Rikakai, [ca. 1925].

Three abstract postcards designed by the physical science club of the Shikōtō Gakkō high school to commemorate a track-and-field event. The high school was founded in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in 1887, and was known fo ...

[Three woodblocks] 

[Komatsuya (one block-face illustrated by)?].

[Japan: publishers unidentified, ca. Edo to Meiji period (1750-1910s)?].

A collection of three woodblocks used for printing in the Edo and Meiji periods. The earliest woodblock features an illustration on one side and part of another work on the other. The latter, evidently an earlier w ...

[Title unidentified]

[Artist unidentified].

[Tōkyō: Chūō Hyōron-sha, ca. mid-Shōwa period (1950-60s?)].

A small printing block for a strip comic that probably appeared in a publication by the Chuō Hyōron-sha (the Chuo University Review), as this company name is inscribed on the side of the block. The strip seems to show a man being thrown out of an o ...

Tōsei Rikō Musume ["A Clever Woman of the Present Day"]

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

Tōkyō: Yamaguchiya Tōbē, [Meiji 6 (1873)].

A response to Fukuzawa Yukichi's Katawa Musume (1872), Tōsei Rikō Musume is one of the earliest works Mantei Ōga and Kawanabe Kyōsai produced together in this ephe ...

Tsuki to Supponchi ["The Moon and a Supponchi"]

Shinoda, Kyūjirō [edited by]; Mantei, Ōga, Kanagaki, Robun, Baitei, Kinga ... [et al.] [supplemented by], Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai, Tsukioka, Yoshitoshi ... [et al.] [illustrated by]. 

Tōkyō: Kōshūsha, Meiji 11-12 [1878-1879].

Issues 1 to 20 of Tsuki to Supponchi, a satirical newspaper edited by Shin ...

[Two albums of woodblock-printed ephemera]

[Illustrators unidentified].

[Tōkyō: Miyake Mokuhan Surisakuho, ca. mid-Shōwa period (1950s)].

Two albums of tipped-in ephemera, including menus, invitations, advertisements, and New Year's cards, woodblock printed for a range of Tokyo-based clients by the Miyake Woodblock Printing Store. Several prints provid ...

Harada, Takeyoshi.

Oosakimaci, Ebaragun, Tokio : Redaktejo Sekaigo Soin, 1913-1914. 

Two issues, December 1913 (number 26) and May 1914 (number 31), of the journal `Orienta Azio`. `Orienta Azio`, printed in Esperanto and Japanese, was published monthly between 1911 and 1916 in Tokyo by the Sekaigo Shoin run by Hara ...

Watanabe, Kazan ... [et al.][illustrated by].

[Tōkyō?] : Nippon Yūsen Kaisha, 1928.

Two colour woodblock-printed one-leaf menus from the S.S. Hakozaki Maru and the Taiyō Maru. The menu from the S.S. Hakozaki Maru (Commander T. Sekine) is dated Thursday, 2nd August, 1928, and the Taiyo Maru menu is dated Sunday, January 29th, 1928. Both sh ...

[Untitled collection of hand-painted and printed illustrations] 

[Illustrators unidentified].

[Japan: Ōtsuka Kōgei-sha ... (et al.), ca. Taishō to early Shōwa period (1920-30s)?].

A miscellany of printed and hand-painted illustrations on paper and card. At least five of the shikishi (poem and art cards) have been hand-painted. Two of the shikishi feat ...

[Untitled collection of photographs]

[Photographer unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Taishō to mid-Shōwa period (1920-30s)?].

A collection of beautiful and striking photographs of Japanese infrastructure and architecture by an unidentified photographer. The seven sepia and monochrome photographs of cranes, bridges, buildings, and ships, have each been mounted on ...

[Untitled folding object]

[Creator unidentified].

[Japan, ca. Meiji period (1870-1910s?)].

An unusual folding object with small opening pockets or compartments, constructed from a colour woodblock-printed omocha-e toy print. Genjikō (Genji Incense) patterns appear on the inner panels of the object and on the eri collar of the elegant woman adorning the fro ...

[Untitled print]

Hisashi [illustrated by].

[Japan, ca. late Taishō to early Shōwa period (1920-1930s)?].

A print - probably a halftone - featuring an elegant Japanese woman playing cards. She sports a modern hairstyle, ruby red lips, and an obi that sparkles with a silver pigment. The artist's name, Hisashi, is printed in the upper left corner. 

[Untitled set of fan designs]

[Suzuki], Kason, [Takeuchi], Seihō ... [et al.] [illustrated by].

[Japan: publisher/s unidentified, ca. Taishō to early Shōwa period (1920-30s)?].

A set of 21 designs for fan papers, with illustrations by artists including Suzuki Kason ("Kwasson") and Takeuchi Seihō. Some fans have been woodblock printed, others lithographical ...

[Untitled surimono]

Ka'an [Kita], Busei [signed and sealed in the block by].

[Edo (Tōkyō), ca. late Edo period (1840-50s)].

A flower emerges from a hanging ceramic vase laid on the ground. Ka'an (Kita) Busei (1776-1857) was a nanga painter born in Edo. He studied under Tani Bunchō and was a friend of Watanabe Kazan, Kyokutei Bakin, Kuwagata Keisai ...

[Untitled surimono]

[Sōen], Kabocha [signed and sealed by].

[Edo (Tōkyō)], Tenpo Mizunoetatsu [1832]. 

Courtiers, two of whom are pictured holding a tray of mochi balls, gather around a fire on a chilly night. Harvested rice is pictured in the background. The artist, Kabocha (1777-1846), is also known as Sōen. 

One ōbōsho s ...