Broadside on paper (228 x 334 mm.), mounted on a hanging scroll, printed with wooden...
Shoka Sonjuku Academy, Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture: Printed by (in trans.) “movable [type],” 1858.
An extremely rare and unusual example of movable wooden type printing in Japan. Movable type books enjoyed a considerable popularity in Japan in the first four decades of the 17th century, but gradually this technology withered away in favor of xylography. The use of wooden movable type was revived again in the late 18th century for small private editions, oftentimes to print controversial texts and issued sub rosa. The texts of some of these works might have faced censorship if commercially published. These kinds of movable type... More