- Museum number
- 1953,0411,0.2.1
- Title
- Object: Ehon kotoba no hana 絵本詞の花 (Picture Book: Flowers of Words)
- Description
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Illustrated book, woodblock print. Vol. 1 from a set of two volumes. Covers: Original, buff-coloured, printed with horizontal brown irregular bands, embossed with textile weave title slips: Original, printed with "Ehon kotoba no hana, jo, ge", pasted in top left corner of covers contents: (vol. 1) 8 leaves: colour-printed wrapper pasted inside the cover; 3 single pages of preface, 7 double-page illustrations, 1 single-page illustration; (vol. 2) 7 leaves: 1 single-page illustration, 6 double-page illustrations, 1 single-page illustration, advertisement and publisher's colophon pasted inside back cover. With poems. Inscribed and signed.
- Producer name
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Print artist: Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿
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Published by: Tsutaya Juzaburo (蔦屋重三郎)
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Written by: Ishikawa Masamochi 石川雅望 (vol.1: preface; kyoka, fireworks at Ryogoku)
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Written by: Sakai Hoitsu 酒井抱一 (vol. 1, kyoka, flower-viewing in the second floor of a Yoshiwara teahouse (as Shiriyake no Sarundo))
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Written by: Soyoan (桑楊庵) (vol. 1, kyoka, fireworks at Ryogoku)
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Written by: Fukiuri Nodohito (吹売咽人) (vol. 1, kyoka, Crawling Dragon Plum Tree)
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Written by: Ashibe no Tazumaru (芦辺田鶴丸) (vol. 1, kyoka, Crawling Dragon Plum Tree)
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Written by: Chie no Hanamoto (千枝鼻元) (vol. 1, kyoka, roof-top drying-platform during the Tanabata Festival)
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Written by: Jomon Kitsumaru (條門橘丸) (vol. 1, kyoka, tea-house with a wisteria arbour; vol. 2, bushclover)
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Written by: Haji no Kakiyasu (土師搔安) (vol. 1, kyoka, tea-house with a wisteria arbour)
- Production date
- 1787 (New Year, preface)
- Dimensions
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Height: 21.70 centimetres
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Width: 15.60 centimetres
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- Curator's comments
- Asano and Clark 1995
The illustrations by Utamaro show mainly landscapes and customs in the city of Edo, with ‘kyoka’ poems inscribed above. It may well have been intended as a sequel to ‘Ehon Edo suzume’ (cat. no. 459) of the previous year. The reference in the preface by Yadoya no Meshimori to "a selection made by Juzaburo, through his unclouded glasses" (Juzaburo ga kumoranu megane no erami ni shite), suggests that the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo was the compiler. Just as the preface refers to drawings based on Ukiyo-e and ‘kyoka’ playing in concert, so the pictures and poems are indeed well matched. Yet there is a certain lack of order and regularity apparent in the structure of the work. Yadoya no Meshimori's statement at the beginning of the preface that "Ukiyo-e has Hishikawa [Moronobu] as its founder" (Ukiyo-e wa Hishikawa o so to shi) shows an interesting awareness of the history of Ukiyo-e. The signature of the artist appears on the colour-printed wrapper as "Kitagawa Utamaro ga".
In the British Museum copy this has been pasted inside the front cover of volume one (see colour plate). Suzuki Juzo has demonstrated the influence on this work of the illustrated book ‘Ehon Azuma karage’ (1786) by Kitao Shigemasa; see Suzuki 1964. In 1797 an edition was published by the Osaka firms of Akashiya Ihachi and Izumiya Genshichi who had acquired the blocks.
Literature:
Otaka, Sennosuke 尾高鮮之助, "Utamaro no kibyoshi ko, 1-3 歌麿の黄表紙考（一）~（三）", ‘Mizue みづゑ’, pp. 275-277, 1928, 8-10.
Ryerson, 1931, 220.
‘Kokusho somokuroku 国書総目録’, vol. 1, Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1963-72, 493.
Suzuki, Juzo 鈴木重三, "Utamaro ehon no bunseki-teki kosatsu 歌麿絵本の分析的考察", ‘Ukiyo-e geijutsu 浮世絵芸術’ 7, 1964, 13-23 (Reprinted in ‘Ehon to ukiyo-e 絵本と浮世絵’, 1979).
Hillier, Jack, ‘The Art of the Japanese Book’, Sotheby's Publications, London, 1987, 408.
Other copies:
Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin.
The British Museum, London (another copy, JH151).
The Art Institute of Chicago.
National Diet Library 国立国会図書館.
Gerhard Pulverer Collection (1797 edition).
Tohoku University 東北大学.
[Main text translated in Japanese below / 以下上記本文日本語訳]
浅野／クラーク 1995
江戸市中の風俗並びに風景を中心にした歌麿の絵の上部に狂歌を記したもの。前年刊の『絵本江戸爵』の続編ともいうべき作品。飯盛の序文に「重三郎がくもらぬ眼鏡のゑらみにして」とあるように、版元の蔦屋重三郎の編としてよい。浮世絵と狂歌の協奏を画とした序に謳う如く絵と狂歌はよく照応している。ただ、編成に一定の秩序は見出し難い。「浮世絵は菱川を祖とし」という飯盛の認識も興味深いものがある。絵師の署名は色彩摺の包紙の表に「喜多川哥麿画」と入っている。大英博物館蔵品の場合、上巻見返しにそれが貼付されている（カラー図版参照）。鈴木重三郎氏によって、北尾重政画『絵本吾妻抉』（天明6年刊）の影響が指摘されているが、これについては同氏の論考を参照されたい。
寛政9年に、大坂の明石屋伊八並びに和泉屋源七から求版本が刊行されている。
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2013 Jan - Apr, London, BM, Japanese Gallery, 'Japan: Prehistory to the Present'
2015 July-October, London, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from Prehistory to
the Present'
2016 Jul–Oct, London, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from Prehistory to the Present'
- Acquisition date
- 1953
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1953,0411,0.2.1
- Additional IDs
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Japanese Illustrated Book number: JIB.136A
