Ryakuga shokunin zukushi 略画職人尽 [Sketches of All Types of Craftsmen]
48 full-page color-printed woodcuts. 26.5 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. orange semi-stiff wrappers (quite rubbed), orig. title-slip, new stitching. Osaka, Edo, & Kyoto: Akitaya Taemon 秋田屋太右衛門, 1841.
Second edition, “newly carved,” of this poetry anthology on the theme of various crafts and professions. The artist Gakutei (1786-1868) was a “man of many parts, a kyōka composer and a translator of Chinese literature into Japanese; and though he was probably never as natural and instinctive a master of the brush as Hokusai and one or two of his more gifted pupils, he undoubtedly had an original cast of mind…[he was] one of the truly creative artists of the book.”–Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, p. 838.
The ever-popular theme of trades with illustrations is beautifully represented in this book with 48 full-page color-printed woodcuts of artisans at work, two to a page, including a fan maker, a calligrapher at work, a woodblock carver, a gardener with shears, a straw hat maker, a framer for vertical scrolls, a lacquerware painter, a brush maker, a horologist timing a clock, a chef cutting ginger, a tobacco merchant, a very relaxed owner of a public bath, a mobile hairdresser carrying his case of supplies, a musical instrument maker, a barrel maker, a mender of ceramics, a maker of rosary beads, a manufacturer of roof tiles, a well digger, a pipe seller, a maker of birdcages, a vendor of vegetables, a manufacturer of fireworks, an inkwell maker, a roofer, a carpenter at work, a plasterer, a sandal maker, a lantern maker, a seller of pears, a basketweaver, a candlemaker, a maker of balls for sports, a pawn store owner, a seller of cooking oils in barrels, a tofu maker, an arrow maker, a weaver at the loom, a kabuki actor, a sake maker, a falconer, a butcher cutting up a deer, and a tailor, amongst others.
The color printing is quite complex with multiple overprintings to achieve certain colors.
The kyōka verses were by members of the Katsushika Bunbunsha Club. A low-level samurai, Bunbunsha 文々舎 (Kubo Taijūrō 久保泰十郎) was a security guard at a governmental office.
The first edition appeared in 1826; both editions are very rare, with no copy in WorldCat.
Very good copy, preserved in a chitsu. Some thumbing throughout in lower outer corners and occasional staining.
Second edition, “newly carved,” of this poetry anthology on the theme of various crafts and professions. The artist Gakutei (1786-1868) was a “man of many parts, a kyōka composer and a translator of Chinese literature into Japanese; and though he was probably never as natural and instinctive a master of the brush as Hokusai and one or two of his more gifted pupils, he undoubtedly had an original cast of mind…[he was] one of the truly creative artists of the book.”–Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, p. 838.
The ever-popular theme of trades with illustrations is beautifully represented in this book with 48 full-page color-printed woodcuts of artisans at work, two to a page, including a fan maker, a calligrapher at work, a woodblock carver, a gardener with shears, a straw hat maker, a framer for vertical scrolls, a lacquerware painter, a brush maker, a horologist timing a clock, a chef cutting ginger, a tobacco merchant, a very relaxed owner of a public bath, a mobile hairdresser carrying his case of supplies, a musical instrument maker, a barrel maker, a mender of ceramics, a maker of rosary beads, a manufacturer of roof tiles, a well digger, a pipe seller, a maker of birdcages, a vendor of vegetables, a manufacturer of fireworks, an inkwell maker, a roofer, a carpenter at work, a plasterer, a sandal maker, a lantern maker, a seller of pears, a basketweaver, a candlemaker, a maker of balls for sports, a pawn store owner, a seller of cooking oils in barrels, a tofu maker, an arrow maker, a weaver at the loom, a kabuki actor, a sake maker, a falconer, a butcher cutting up a deer, and a tailor, amongst others.
The color printing is quite complex with multiple overprintings to achieve certain colors.
The kyōka verses were by members of the Katsushika Bunbunsha Club. A low-level samurai, Bunbunsha 文々舎 (Kubo Taijūrō 久保泰十郎) was a security guard at a governmental office.
The first edition appeared in 1826; both editions are very rare, with no copy in WorldCat.
Very good copy, preserved in a chitsu. Some thumbing throughout in lower outer corners and occasional staining.
Details
Title
Ryakuga shokunin zukushi 略画職人尽 [Sketches of All Types of Craftsmen]
Author
YASHIMA, Gakutei 八島岳亭, artist
Condition
Unknown