29 folding leaves. 8vo (229 x 156 mm.), later semi-stiff silk-brocade-covered wrappers (covers a bit wormed), gold- & silver-speckled endpapers, old stitching. [Japan]: on final leaf (in trans.): “3 August 1483.”

A beautiful and fine calligraphic manuscript of “Guhishō,” a text on waka poetic theory that, along with “Gukenshō” 愚見抄, “Sangoki” 三五記, and “Kirihioke” 桐火桶, made up the writings collectively referred to as the “Cormorant and Heron Forgeries” (Usagikei Gisho 鵜鷺系偽書). These four texts were attributed to Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241), the “single most influential figure in the history of Japanese classical poetry. [He] was the supreme arbiter of poetry... More

Eight full-page drawings & one illus. in the text. 17 folding leaves. 8vo (243 x 165 mm.), orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers (some dampstaining to upper portion of each leaf). [Japan: mid-Edo].

Kagawa (1683-1755), a member of the medical family dynasty, studied in Kyoto with Ryozan Goto and Jinsai Ito, from whom he learned moxibustion and the therapeutic value of the waters of hot springs. Kagawa established the successful Ippondo medical school and was one of the most enthusiastic practitioners of moxibustion of his time. There is another manuscript of this text at Kyoto University, attributed to Kagawa. Some of the... More

Manuscript on fine paper. Each page with a border of silver pigment; each column of text with silver borders. Numerous finely hand-colored illustrations, heightened with gold & silver. 16 vols. of notebooks (230 x 153 mm.), each bound in retchoso (or butterfly) style with fine silk over semi-stiff wrappers, inside endpapers decorated with metallic clouds. [Japan]: mid- to late Edo period.

A beautiful and luxurious manuscript on the art of war from Tokugawa Japan. From the early 17th to the mid-19th century, the political structure of Japan was a shogunate headed by the Tokugawa family, who controlled much... More