Numerous full-page woodcut illus. in the text. 18 parts in nine vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. block-printed title-slips, new stitching (some loose). [From colophon]: Osaka: Kawachi Mohachi et al. & Edo: Yamazaki Kinbei, 1771.

First edition to be printed in Japan, in Chinese with Japanese reading marks, of “China’s greatest technological classic”–Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. 4, Part II, p. 171. This book first appeared in print in China in 1637, and copies soon reached Japan. The Japanese editor was Eda Masuhide 江田益英.

The book is divided into the following sections:

1. agriculture, irrigation, and hydraulic engineering;

2... More