About This BookThis book is a re-print by Shima Art Company of twenty woodblock prints of drawings by the Kyoto artist Takeuchi Seihō which originally appeared in the four volumes of Seihō's Guide to Drawing (Seihō shūgachō 栖鳳 習畫帖), published by Unsōdō Publishing in 1901. (See this collection's copies of volume 1, volume 2 and volume 4 of the 1901 Seihō's Guide to Drawing.) While there are small differences between the 1901 prints and these c. 1935 prints, I believe the same blocks were used for both printings. The printing in the 1901 edition is of better quality, holding more detail than the later printing.
As to how Shima Art Company obtained the original blocks it may be that they were acquired from Unsōdō Publishing. In his history of the Shima Art Company, Kotaro Sumii, a descendant of the founder E. T. Shima, notes that Shima Art Company brought in Maruyama-Shijō school's kacho-e prints from Kyoto, possibly from Unsōdō.1 Seihō was considered he "most celebrated practitioner" of the Maruyama-Shijō school of art during his time.
2 The Art of Modern Japan: From the Meiji Restoration to the Meiji Centennial 1868-1968, Hugo Munsterberg, Hacker Art Books, 1978, p. 46. Note: Below drawing titles are taken from the table of contents of the 1901 original release. click on each image to enlarge | 栖鳳習畫帖
Seiho's Guide to Drawing |
鳥 tori - bird |
猫 neko - cat |
水鳧 suiei kamo - duck swimming |
鳩 hato - dove |
杙 kui - pile |
雛? hina - young bird |
鼠 nezumi - mouse |
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雀 jaku - sparrow |
鮎 ayu - sweetfish |
金魚 kingyo - goldfish |
鶴 tsuru - crane |
雞 kei - chickens |
獅子 shishi - lion |
Book Details| IHL Catalog | #1622 | | Title | 栖鳳 習畫帖 [Seihō shūgachō] - as titled on the front cover
Bird and Animal Drawings by Seiho - as titled on the inside of the back cover | Artist
| Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942)
| Signature
| drawings do not carry the artist's signature
| | Seal | This seal either red or black ink appears on all drawings in this volume | | Publication Date | c. 1935 (this date is taken from the OCLC World Cat record for this book).
| | Edition | unknown
| | Publisher | Shima Art Company (as appears on inside of rear cover)
| | Printer | | | Impression | excellent | | Colors | excellent | | Condition | good - paper is brittle and a few drawings have small tears or vertical tears the length the width of the paper along the binding edge. Repair have been made using Japanese repair tape from verso.
| | Miscellaneous |
| | Genre | gafu
| | Format | yamatotoji 大和綴
| | H x W Paper | 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (17.5 x 25.1 cm )
| | Collections This Book |
| | Reference Literature |
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