101; 100; 100 folding leaves. Three vols. Oblong 8vo (155 x 217 mm.), orig. wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: Preface dated 1818.

The rice brokers of Japan during the Edo period became fabulously wealthy, not so much from dealing in rice but from money lending. In Edo in 1724, 109 rice brokers formed a powerful guild known as fudasashi (note/bill exchange), located in the Asakusa section of what is today Tokyo, close to the warehouses where the brokers stored rice produced by the farmers of various daimyos. The fudasashi stored rice for a fee, lent money at high interest rates to... More

Many fine black & white double-page & single-page woodcuts throughout. Ten vols. 8vo, orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (three labels are somewhat defective), new stitching. Osaka: Tenmaya Yasubei; Kyoto: Yoshida Jihei, 1835.

[with]:

— & MATSUKAWA Hanzan; —. Ehon Toyotomi Ryukyu gunki [Illustrated Tale of the Ryukyu War]. Many fine black & white double-page & single-page woodcuts throughout (six in Vol. I are color-printed). Ten vols. 8vo, orig. pale blue patterned wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka: Kawachiya Tobei & Kawachiya Mohei, colophon dated 1864; title-page... More

Many full-page & double woodcut illus. Eight vols. 8vo, orig. blue patterned wrappers (somewhat discolored), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, Edo: Kawachiya Mohei et al., 1859.

First edition of a very scarce book, completed in 1844 but published 15 years later. This work is a summary of the author’s agricultural and technological writings over a 55-year period. Okura (1768-1856?), was one of the three most eminent agriculturalists of the Edo period. A reformer, he wrote more than 20 books on all aspects of agricultural improvement and technology; they were among the best of their... More

Numerous woodcut illus. in the text. 24; 27; 23 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (cover of Vol. II a little stained), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, & Edo: Prefaces & Afterword dated 1802.

[with]:

—. Nokaeki kohen [Sequel to For the Farmer’s Benefit]. Numerous woodcut illus. in the text. 30; 35 folding leaves. Two vols. 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (bindings a little soiled), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, & Edo: Prefaces dated 1810 & Afterword dated 1802.

[with]:

—. Nokaeki zokuhen [A Second Sequel to For the... More

Ca. 52 leaves. 8vo (leaves of various sizes but averaging 285 x 203 mm.), written on paper with pre-printed columns, stitched together. Osaka: 1872-75.

The Osaka Medical School, today part of Osaka University and one of the finest medical schools in Japan, traces its origins and traditions to the Tekijuku, an academy founded by Koan Ogata (1810-63), which based its teaching on Western learning, mostly from the Dutch. The newly created Meiji government established the Osaka Medical School in 1869, with the help of Ogata’s son Koreyoshi and the Dutch doctor Antonius Franciscus Bauduin (1822-85). This was part of... More

63 full-page color illus., 26 double-page color illus., 8 full-page black & white illus., & several maps including a finely colored world map that continues for three pages. 16 parts in nine vols. Large 8vo (236 x 168 mm.), later brown wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: from the last page of the final volume, in trans.: “copied 1815.”

An early copy of this famous and sensational text, which circulated in manuscript in Japan throughout the 19th century. Its account of travels outside of Japan remained effectively a “clandestine” work until it was ultimately published in 1899. The earliest surviving manuscript is... More

Hand-drawn double-page map of the Bonin Islands. 61 folding leaves. Large 8vo (268 x 200 mm.), orig. wrappers, stitched, spine backed at an early date with matching paper. [Japan: ca. 1860].

An intriguing manuscript containing early Japanese translations of American reports drafted during Perry’s mission to the Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-shima) in June 1853, one month before he sailed into Edo Bay for the first time. It is a fascinating record of America’s colonial and commercial ambitions in the mid-19th century and Japan’s response. The volume’s upper wrapper bears the official seal (onikki kata) belonging to the Keeper of the Diary... More

37; 22; 17; 25; 21 folding leaves. Five vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Edo, Osaka, & Kyoto: 1832.

First edition in Japanese and an important book. “Kincho or Rikkyo [or Rikkei or Ryukei] Sugita (1786-1846), the son of the famous Gempaku Sugita, published a work in five volumes in 1830 [this is wrong or a typo; the correct date is 1832] entitled Yoka shinsen, which was a translation of [the Dutch translation] of Joseph Jakob von Plenck’s Compendium institutionum chirurgicarum… (Viennae: R. Graeffer, 1780). The Yoka shinsen was important as the first... More

[Japan: early mid-Edo].

The theme of the four seasons of rice cultivation has had an extensive presence within Japanese art and literature. These two luxury festive scrolls beautifully depict the year-long cycle of rice growing in Japan, along with the ancillary activities that took place during the year in the countryside, including falconry, growing vegetables and fruits, seasonal festivals, ways of relaxation, and the annual tribute of rice to the fiefdom lord. The activities shown on these scrolls have much in common with Brueghel paintings, and vividly depict country life.

We learn from the labels and handwriting on the original... More

10 columns per page; 20 characters per column. 30 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. brown wrappers, cont. manuscript title label on upper cover, new stitching. Mount Hiei, outside of Kyoto: Enryakuji monastery complex, ca. 1617-18.

First edition of this rare and important text (no copy in WorldCat, Kawase, or NIJL), printed with movable wooden type. This is an uncommon example of an Eizan-ban, “editions published at the Enryakuji monastery complex on Mount Hiei outside Kyoto. There were few of these in the medieval period…Eizan printing came into its own on a large scale only from the end of the sixteenth... More

51 leaves (including one blank). 8vo (245 x 172 mm.), orig. self-wrappers, orig. stitching. [Japan]: 1856.

A fascinating record book, containing notes from 1838 to 1867 (in spite of the cover date of 1856), concerning the business of making sake and the brewers’ relations with the government.

Sake brewing in Japan has long been a highly regulated industry and an important source of tax revenue. The bakufu instituted the licensing system called “Sakekabu” in 1657 in order to regulate the number of manufacturers and the amount of rice used. The “Sakekabu” itself is a wooden license tag, carrying on the... More

69; 52; 61; 54 folding leaves. Four vols. Oblong 8vo (140 x 210 mm.), orig. persimmon-stained wrappers (a little worn), new stitching. From the colophon: “1597” (but see below).

First edition of this rare movable type dictionary of renga poetry. This is the earliest Japanese movable type book we have yet encountered (the first book printed in Japan with movable type — using Korean technology — appeared in 1593). It is one of the first dictionaries of renga poetry, written by one of the great masters of the genre. This book is very rare; WorldCat lists only the Kyoto University... More