Various formats and sizes. [Japan]: ca. 1787-96.

The Ogasawara School, founded in the 12th century, laid the foundations of etiquette for the aristocratic and samurai classes throughout Japan for many centuries. The school specialized in teaching horsemanship, archery, mounted archery, and samurai etiquette, on and off the battlefield. Over the centuries, the school transitioned itself to focus on a system of courtly manners, along with skills in archery for ceremonial rituals. The school continues today, supervised by the 31st generation leader, Kiyotada Ogasawara. The Imperial House of Japan uses Ogasawara etiquette.

This fascinating collection is made up of miniature models or samples of materials and objects required and used at formal Ogasawara events in the late 18th century, as well as a number of manuscript documents. More

Large thick 4to album (283 x 242 mm.), binding of modern silk. [Japan: early Edo, probably ca. 1700; recently remounted & bound].

The 36 mounted sheets in the album contain depictions of the 36 immortal poets (of which five are women), all with the calligraphy of Nobuyoshi Kuzuoka (1629-1717), a member of an aristocratic Kyoto family. He moved to Osaka to become an influential teacher of waka poetry and an important calligrapher.

Each poem has been written on square “poem cards” (shikishi), and each of our calligraphic specimens is illustrated. The other surviving calligraphic manuscripts of Kuzuoka on the same theme are not illustrated. More

Two parts in one vol. 25, 13 folding leaves. 8vo (198 x 135 mm.), orig. wrappers (rubbed), old stitching. [Japan]: at the beginning of each part & on final leaf (in trans.): “Oyo [today, Nagoya] retired doctor Tokei [or] Tokoku Yoshida copied 6 June 1767.”

The first part provides a detailed explanation of the theory and practice of acupuncture, concentrating on 28 different ways to use the needle. At the end of this part, there is a most interesting discussion of Zi Wu Liu zhu [The Midnight-Noon Ebb-Flow Acupuncture Method], which is used as a theoretical guide to determine whether the meridian is open at a particular moment. More

Many small brush & black ink drawings in the margins throughout. 111 folding leaves. 8vo (232 x 157 mm.), later patterned wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: (in trans.): “copied by Tanaka on 29 January 1830.”

The index on the first two pages describes the arrangement of the manuscript: by sections of the body. These include the upper section (head, eyes, nose, teeth, throat, and lungs), middle section (heart, abdomen, hips), and lower section (urinary tract, large intestine, rectum, and legs). This is followed by one page describing treatments, which are either fast-acting or long-term. There is a further division of treatments for women (including reproductive organs), children... More

14 parts in 13 vols. Large 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (rubbed), new stitching. [Japan: 1648-52].

An early and rare edition of this highly influential commentary on the Tsurezuregusa [Notes from Leisure Hours] of Kenko Yoshida (ca. 1282-1350). Yoshida’s greatest masterpiece, it is a nonfictional prose work — zuihitsu — containing miscellaneous reflections and observations that continues to be read and loved today. “It can be said that Kenko discovered a couple of centuries before Montaigne that prose was the natural medium for conveying the motions of an inquiring, particularly a self-inquiring, mind. It is... More

Scroll (268 x 7390 mm.), endpaper at beginning with gold-flecked paper & on verso a rich silk brocade, carefully backed & strengthened. [Japan: ca. 1800].

Shokunin zukushi [“Pictures of People of Various Occupations”] is a theme in painting and illustration that became popular in early modern Japan. While highly esteemed for their artistic qualities, these illustrations are also a valuable record of the lives of early modern urban dwellers.

Our scroll contains 33 paintings of artisans: a street performer with musical accompanist, a storyteller, shishi mai [dancers to scare away evil spirits], saru hiki [man with a circus monkey], a caretaker and his caged uguisu... More

Ten columns, 20 characters per column. 34; 33; 42 folding leaves. 8vo (270 x 193 mm.), orig. pale brown wrappers (some relatively minor worming, mostly confined to the margins, but occasionally touching a character), new stitching. [Mount Hiei: before 1625].

A very rare movable type Eizan-ban; WorldCat and the Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books do not record a copy. Kawase knows only of another edition with 19 characters per column, dated mid-Kan’ei (1615-33) and printed at Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto.

Eizan-ban are books published at the Enryakuji monastery complex on Mount Hiei outside of Kyoto. “Eizan printing came into its own on a large scale... More

12 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers, orig. block-printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. Tokyo: Shosanodo shoten, 1909.

First edition of the catalogue of a part of the library of the famous Shoheizaka Gakumonjo school, which was located in what is today Ueno Park. The school had its origins as a private Confucian temple, constructed by Razan Hayashi (1583-1657), but was turned into a state-run school under the direct control of the bakufu in 1797, following the Kansei Edict. The school, an official academy of the Tokugawa shogunate, produced many outstanding leaders.

The catalogue describes 64 titles printed in 667 volumes, chiefly devoted to Chinese studies, printed at the academy before its closure in 1871, following the Meiji Restoration. Title, number of volumes, author, and year are given. Tetsunosuke Tomita (1835-1916), the prominent banker and governor of Tokyo, found the woodblocks of these 64 publications and issued the present book to record their existence. More

Numerous finely detailed brush & ink illus. in the text, some heightened in red ink or gray wash. 45 folding leaves. Three parts in one vol. 8vo (237 x 164 mm.), orig. patterned blue wrappers, manuscript title label on upper cover, new stitching. On final page (in trans.): “Copied in Kyoto in 1813.”

This richly illustrated manuscript is part of the Chinese tradition of skin-deep orthopedic therapies associated with waike, literally “external therapies.” Texts like ours therefore required numerous instructive illustrations of the structure of the skeleton, therapeutic methods, bone-setting, and orthopedic instruments.

There are several other surviving manuscript copies of this anonymous text (the one at Tokyo University Library is incomplete; there is another in the collection of the Naito Museum of Pharmaceutical Science and Industry in Gifu Prefecture). The author describes methods of deep massage and manipulations. He describes and names all 332 bones of the body, starting with the skull and ending with the feet. There are two magnificent views of the human skeleton — front and back. The author offers a number of case histories where he employed manipulations and/or deep massage therapies. More

16 fine full-page brush & ink illus. 24 folding leaves. 8vo (243 x 169 mm.), orig. wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: late Edo.

A fascinating manuscript. Murai (1733-1815), was a member of one of the leading Japanese families specializing in surgery. A renowned Chinese lute player, he was physician to the Kumamoto fiefdom. Murai studied under Todo Yoshimasu (1702-73), one of the most innovative practitioners of his time. Both Yoshimasu and Murai were leaders in the development of Japanese “Kampo,” the study and transformation of traditional Chinese medicine in Japan, which began in the 7th century and slowly modified itself into its own unique system of... More

Forty parts in 12 vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, new stitching. At the beginning of each part: Cixi: Prefaces dates 1776 & 1788.

A valuable and influential dictionary of synonyms and antonyms in the Chinese language. Li, a native of Cixi, served as a magistrate in Wangjiang County. Originally published in 39 parts, this edition has the valuable supplement — the 40th part — by Huai Guan, painter and librarian, who lived in Hangzhou, near Cixi.

This is an encyclopedic work, encompassing synonyms and antonyms in all disciplines, including science, politics, history, gastronomy, costumes, technology, books and bibliography, transportation, weaving, military history, agriculture, antiquities, music, religious texts, pharmacology... More

Scroll (300 x 5690 mm.) on paper with eight illus. using brush & various colors of wash. [Japan]: at the end, the year 1606 is written, the name of the person who gave this information: “Sato Tarobei Munenobu,” and the name of the recipient: “Tani Sataro.”

This early scroll, dated 1606, contains eight images and is clearly derived from Chinese medicine, which employed acupuncture and herbal medicines. The first image depicts the five organs and the triple burner, with different colors for each organ, and their related parts of the body. The following image shows a horse and its chief meridians, with accompanying text... More