Shina Taikan (A Compendium of China)

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Shina Taikan ["A Compendium of China"]

Fukuda, Bisen [Shūtarō] [text and illustrations by].

Tōkyō: Kanao Bun'endō, Taishō 5 [1916].

A complete set of two volumes by Fukuda Bisen (1875-1963) on the geography, customs, and history of China. The highly illustrated albums cover the Yōsukō (Yangtze River) region and the Kōga (Yellow River) region, which the artist visited around Meiji 42 (1909). Fukuda, a student of the acclaimed artists Kubota Beisen and Hashimoto Gahō, later joined the Nihon Bijutsuin founded by Okakura Tenshin and Gahō. Fukuda travelled to China to study Chinese painting and reinvigorate the Nanga style at the will of Tenshin, who recognised Fukuda's skill in the moribund art form. Scott Johnson deems Fukuda's resulting two-volume work, which features fifty beautiful colour woodblock-printed scenes of China including the endpapers, boards, and chitsu case, "the most ambitious of all the sketch-tour books".

Two volumes housed in original chitsu case, complete. Original boards lightly browned, worn, and with a few scrapes. Occasional browning, offsetting, foxing, and marks internally. Chitsu with sticker removal to one inner panel, hinges lightly cracked. 29, 4 p. [main text unpaginated]; 3 p., [main text unpaginated], 1, 3, 69, 7 p. Each volume measures approx. 23.5 x 31.5 cm.

❧ Johnson, Scott. "Sketch-tour of the early books and prints of the twentieth century", in Andon (37), June 1991, p. 26.

Shina Taikan (A Compendium of China)
Price: $500.00 (USD)