Many finely drawn illustrations in brush, ink, & colors. Scroll (285 x 9310 mm.), 23 joined sheets (some inoffensive worming, carefully repaired). Japan: copied before 1857.

A finely illustrated scroll, created in the witty and refined realistic style of Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e brush work, depicting the route taken — a distance of about 4 km. — by pleasure-seekers from Ryogoku Bridge to Shin Yoshiwara, the center of prostitution in the city of Edo. By the 18th century, it was the home to some 1750 women. This was an extremely busy section with a strong commercial tradition in what is today’s central Tokyo.

Our scroll is an early copy of the original scroll; we do not know if that earlier scroll still exists. It was created by Bunyo Tozaka (1783-1852), a prominent Nanga-style artist who studied with Buncho Tani and specialized in kachoga (pictures of flowers and butterflies). The author of the notes was Hirokata Yashiro (1758-1841), the influential historian of Japan and great book collector (he had more than 50,000 Chinese and Japanese books housed in a series of three buildings in Ueno, known at the Shinobazu Bunko). The beginning of our copied scroll depicts several boats holding men (including samurai) and women making their way along the Sumida River from Ryogoku Bridge to Shin Yoshiwara. They disembark at Kumagatado, adjacent to Asakusa Bridge. From there, the men — clearly samurai — mount rented horses (Daiden Horse Co., with very inadequate saddles) and continue their journey. There are images of high-ranking men with their faces hidden by large hats in order to conceal themselves. Their family crests on their kimono are also hidden. They pass through Raijin Gate (today’s Kaminarimon) which belongs to Tokyo’s oldest temple, Senso-ji. There is a merchant depicted along the side of the road, selling dumplings (the famous Yone manju). Finally, the samurai dismount and board small boats at an embankment to cross some wetlands at the Nihon zutsumi. They arrive at a commercial area called Doromachi (“Mud Town”) where the travellers wash their feet and tidy themselves before entering Shin Yoshiwara and all its pleasures. More

Japan: ca. 1818-30.

An excellent example of a woodblock for the production of prints for a mamehan shunga, small-format erotic prints in the form of cards typically measuring 90 x 120 mm. The production of these shunga thrived in the years 1818-30. Issued in sets of twelve, they were printed in large runs and very popular. About 1500 mamehan shunga are known to have been issued. They were often carried tucked into the breast section of kimono robes.

The obverse side of our woodblock is carved with the basic outline of four images for these cards; the sheet of printed paper, after further... More

21 double-page & 6 single-page woodcut illus., all color-printed. 14; 13; 13 folding leaves (incl. text & illus.). Three vols. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, decorated with gold (somewhat rubbed, gold decoration largely oxidized), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, each with mica sprinkles, new stitching. [Japan: ca. 1806].

First edition and very rare; no copy is located in WorldCat (but there is an incomplete copy listed in the private collection of Mitsuru Uragami by the Ritsumeiken University’s ARC database). Our copy seems to be the only surviving complete set.

The artistic authorship of this finely illustrated shunga book is uncertain: responsibility has been attributed to both... More