Four brush & black ink drawings in the text. 21 folding leaves. 8vo (237 x 165 mm.), orig. decorated semi-stiff wrappers, manuscript title on label on upper cover, new stitching. [Japan]: on final leaf (in trans.): “Copied May 1814 by Toba.”

An attractive manuscript copy of the first Japanese text on shiitake cultivation, written in 1796; it has remained unpublished. The beginning of our manuscript is entitled “Kyoshin roku” [“Amazing Shiitake Mushroom Knowledge”]. This is followed by “Onkosai mitsuki” [“Sato’s Tips on Honey Production”] and “Satsuma imo kono sho narabini tsukuri yo no den” [“On the Health Benefits & Cultivation... More