HAIKAI SHOKUGYO ZUKUSHI ä¿ è«§è æ¥å°½ 2 vols - Rare Book Insider
HAIKAI SHOKUGYO ZUKUSHI ä¿ è«§è æ¥å°½ 2 vols

Tachibana Shozan æ å°å±±, artist and Sessuiken/Chasei éªæ° è»'ï¼è é, ed

HAIKAI SHOKUGYO ZUKUSHI ä¿ è«§è æ¥å°½ 2 vols

1842
  • $2,850
Tachibana Shozan æ å°å±±, artist and Sessuiken/Chasei éªæ° è»'ï¼è é, ed. HAIKAI SHOKUGYO ZUKUSHI ä¿ è«§è æ¥å°½ 2 vols. Edo, Tempo 13 [1842] Two volumes 23.4 x 16.6cm string-bound Japanese-style, fukuro-toji in original wrappers with printed paper title slips and housed in a modern clasped chitsu. Unusual and interesting haikai collection, with wonderful Edo Shijo-style illustrations, 30 double-page and 11 single page. The author is Inoue Seishichi, writing under his pen name, Sessuiken. Original woodblock prints, carefully printed in light colors, with Japanese text throughout. Portrayed are the "shokugyo zukushi" or "guide to the professions" of the title, such as fisherman, hunter, cliff moss gatherer and blade sharpener, accompanied by poems. The professions are divided by seasons, with Spring and Summer in Vol 1 and Fall and Winter in Vol 2. The printed title slip of Vol 2 missing and there is slight worming throughout, mainly confined to lower margins. Wear to and spots of soiling to wrappers. Overall good condition with excellent impressions and a wonderful demonstration of the variety of color shades possible using nothing but sumi ink. (Please see Mitchell pp. 282-3.). Quite a wonderful book to relax with for an evening in old Japan.
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KINSEI KIJIN-DEN

KINSEI KIJIN-DEN

[EHON] Mikuma Katen, artist [EHON] Mikuma Katen, artist. KINSEI KIJIN-DEN, 5 vols. Kyoto, Hishiya Magobei, et al. Kansei 2 [1790]. String-bound Japanese-style fukuro toji, in textured blue-grey covers with printed paper title labels. 37 single page and 2 double page b+w woodcuts, largely depicting the subject matter of the title: TALES OF ECCENTRICS FROM RECENT YEARS. Originally printed, as here, in 1790, this is a deservedly famous and oft-reprinted work in Japan. This is probably a relatively early reprint. It has Wonderful thin paper. The KIJIN_DEN catalogues the eccentricities and eccentrics of the late 18th Century - a time of florescence of the "bunjin" literati ideal in Japan. The bunjin created an esthetically pure environment in the midst of the bustle (and corruption) of everyday life. The initial exemplars were those scholars and artists who withdrew from public life in China after the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the alien Manchus in the mid-17th Century. The KIJIN-DEN represents one of the efforts by the Japanese to domesticate a Chinese cultural import and find native representatives of the literati ideal. It should be noted that this guide came out just as the Kansei Reforms, with a decidedly Confucian, if not authoritarian, bent, had just been promulgated. The "kijin" or literatus might well chafe under such a "reform" agenda. This book even well be seen as a bit of cultural protest on behalf of the individual ideal. The KIJIN-DEN is interesting for its exploration of the art world in Japan- for example, there is a domestic scene of the painters Ikeno Taiga and wife Gyokuran, among others. (Unfortunately, it is the only torn woodcut with part of the image missing) Indeed, there are many women depicted in the KIJIN-DEN. (See JAPANESE WOMEN ARTISTS 1600-1900) Also see Ryerson 416, Mitchell 364, Hillier/Ravicz 22. The condition is good over all, the printings are fair to good. There was a second series done some few years later, but this first series is complete as issued in 5 volumes.
  • $975