Two Books Illustrated by Hokusai Author(s): T. Volker Reviewed work(s): Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 20, No.

1 (1957), pp. 61-65 Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249472 . Accessed: 23/09/2012 07:18
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T.VOLKER

TWO BOOKS

ILLUSTRATED

BY HOKUSAI

the National Museum of Ethnology at Leyden there is a set of key-blocks (of which only a few have perished due to decay) cut for Ehon kydka yama matayama, a book illustrated with colour-prints from designs by Hokusai. The blocks were brought to Holland by Von Siebold in 183o and must have been acquiredbetween 1823 and I829, the period of Von Siebold's stay in Japan. Of this book Louise Norton BrownI says,

In

"The YamaMata Yamais one of Hokusai's rarest colour-printedbooks and is generally considered the finest, although just why it should be so rankedis puzzling, for neither in composition, colour, nor printing
does it compare with the three volumes of the Sumidagawa set in which some of Hokusai's very best work appears."2 And, "Ehon Kydka Yama Mata Yama: Verses on mountains upon mountains. 3 vols. 1803 or I804. Colours."

Kenji Toda in the Catalogueof the Ryerson Collectionssays,

"A picture-book of Ky6ka. Range after Range of Mountains. Katsushika Hokusai, artist. 3 Vols., complete, 25 x 17 1/ cm. Sheets numbered. Publisher, and date of publication not given. Vol. I: i 2 sheets; i i illustrations. Vol. II: io sheets; ix illustrations. Vol. III: i o sheets; last sheet not numbered; i o illustrations. All illustrations in colour. There are differences of opinion in regard to the date of publication of this book, but the inscription 'Ky6wa 3, Boar Year', given on the festival flag of the Gion-e (illustration 4, vol. II) seems at least to indicate the year in which Hokusai made these illustrations. The publication has been attributed to Tsutaya J izabur6."

There need be no uncertaintyabout the date of publicationof this book for in the colophon of a copy acquiredby the Museum in 1949 it is clearly stated that the book was published beginning of spring Ky6wa IV, i. e. 1804, by Tsutaya Jfisabur6.Incidentallythis copy was pux
2

Louise Norton Brown, Block PrintingandBookIllustration in Japan, London 1924. Pages 18o0 and 181. I do not agree with this author's verdict on the quality of Ehon ky'kayama matayama. As far as it is based on colour and printing, so much depends on individual copies that it is near-impossible to be apodictic about them. As far as the verdict is based on composition, in my opinion the book compares very favourably with Ehon sumidagawa. It has a great amount of dignity and repose in its composition and shows a masterful harmony in the handling of lines and planes. But then, why compare them at all? They were conceived on different lines. The Sumidagawa-set gives a kind of panoramaof the great river and the Yamamatayamagives a selection of special places and allusions thereto. Hokusai was far more free in his subject here and as a result the effect is very pleasing though Ehonsumidagawa is by no means to be despised.
Kenji Toda, The Ryerson Collection, Chicago, 1931, page 241.

61

blished in one volume instead of three which seems to have been the usual way, regarding

anothercopy in the Museumcollectionand the copiesmentioned by Brownand Toda.4 It is, moreover,interestingthat this copy has been in the possessionof severalUkiyoe mastersas it bearsthe seals of Toyoharu,Chikayoshi, Kunisada and Kunichika. It has also
been in the possession of Hayashiand of Louis Gonse.

Thatthe book is rareis perhaps understandable for the blockswere sold or given awayto
Von Siebold who may have acquiredthem directly from Edo or from someone who had ac-

he sold or gave them to Von Sieboldfor whom Hokusai and his pupils have worked on several

at Edo fromTsutaya's estate.It is even possiblethatHokusaihimself quiredthempreviously them of after the decline of the business underJflsabur6's andthat head-clerk, got possession occasions. As to the blocks,manyof themare still in good condition.s
One day, comparingthem with the pages of the book, I found on the reverse of the blocks I andII) two engravings for leaves19, left half,and 20 righthalf (Repr. for printsnot usedin the book (Repr.III and IV). I have puzzled over this, thinking of designs commissioned and

engraved,but not used, and of some other book. The latterbecametrue for I cameupon a FischerCollectionmadein ichiran which had been in the Van Overmeer copy of Thtosbdkei
Japan, also between 1823 and 1829.

There I found the prints these engravings were made for, the left half of Nihonbashi (Vol. I i. 6) and the right half of Kameido Tenshin (Vol. I i. 7). According to this copy, the book was published in Kansei 12, 80oo, by SuwarayaM6hei and SuwarayaIhachi in Edo, and in Bunka 12, 1815, by Hishiya Kimbei at Nagoya, gak5 Hokusai Shinsei, cbhdk, And6 Enshi.6 On the original blue wrapper of the book the title is mentioned and on a separate,also blue, label, Gaky6jin Hokusai nofude. Kenji Toda says of this book,7
"Tdto shdkei ichiran. Fine views of the Eastern Capital at a Glance. Katsushika Hokusai, artist. Signed: Hokusai Shinsei. And6 Enshi, engraver. Edo, Tsutaya Jizabur6, publisher. Kansei 12, I800. 2 vols., complete 26 x 17 cm. Sheets numbered. Vol. I: io sheets, xo illustrations. Vol. II: xx sheets, numbered i1-2o, ix illustrations. The illustrations are printed in colour. The pictures show human elements rather than views. Names of the places, and Ky6ka, accompany the illustrations." And, "T6to sh6kei ichiran(a). Duplicate of the foregoing. Probably a later edition, with the names of Suharaya M6hei, and Ihachi, added as publishers. The colours superior to the other edition." If Nakata Katsunosuke is right there must have been a second, and contemporary, edition of Yamamatayama, for on he says: " Yamamatayama,three volumes, Bunka I, publisher Yamada Sanshir6." It is a page 99 of his Ehon no Kenkyu pity that he did not document his statement and so we cannot know if there has not been a confusion with some other book illustrated by Hokusai. That the Tsutaya edition mentions Ky6wa 4 is an indication that the book in this edition was prepared for publication, at the end of 1803 probably, for the spring of next year, when it was not yet known that the reign-name was to be changed into Bunka beginning with Febr. i ith 1804. Quartet,Leiden, 1949, illustration facing p. 19 and the reproductions accompanying these notes. s See T. Volker, Ukiyo-e 6 According to Yoshida Teruji's Ukiyo-e jiten, Tokyo, 1944, And6 Enshi was a chdshi(master engraver) of the Temmei and Kansei periods, 1781-i8oo (though apparently he was still working in Ky6wa, 18o1-1803 and the beginning of Bunka, 1804). His name appears on Katsukawa Shunch6's K6y6ky6 and it is recorded that he was also the engraver for Hokusai's Ky6kaehon"AZuma asobi", published Kansei II (1799) and for his Tdto meisho(sic. See also footnote Io) ichiran,published Kansei 12, 1800. 7 Op. cit., page 236.
4

62

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Fig. I. Key-block for Ehon kyokayamamalayama, leaf I9, left half.

leaf 20, right half. Fig. II. Key-block for Ehon kyokayamamaltayama,

en,

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An
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Fig. III. Key-block for T7toshokeiichiran,left half of Nihonbashi. Fig. IV. Key-block for Thtoshokeiichiran,right half of Kameido.

Duret8 says of this book:

"Coup d'keilsur les lieux c6lbres de Edo. Dessinateur: Hokousai Tatsoumassa.9Graveur: And6 Enshi. Editeur: Tsoutaya Jouzaburo. Edo i8oo. 2 vol."

Louise Norton Brown says:

represent various aspects of life in Edo." And, "TdtoMeishoShdkeiIchiran:The environs of Edo. Signed Hokusai Tatsumasa.2 vols. i8oo. Colours."IO
is another of his [Hokusai's] well known works in which the illustrations "The T7to Shdkei ichiranof 800oo

that Toda and Duret mention TsutayaJcsabur6 as the publisherwhile Now it is remarkable the Museum copy itself clearly belonging to the 1815 edition of Hishiya Kimbei at Nagoya but also i 8oo and so the head-clerkof the late Tsutaya mentions as originalpublisherSuwaraya, in the year of publicationitself.,, Jfsabur6 (died I797) perhapssold the blocks to Suwaraya were alreadya From the copy at Leyden it is evident that the blocks of Thtoshdkei ichiran little tired when the Hishiya edition was made though they still gave a nice impression, be it probablywell over the two-hundredth. It seems permissibleto come to the conclusion that both books were originally made for the same publisher,the old firm of TsutayaJfsabur6. From the blocks themselves it is evident, that they were cut by the same hand, that therefore those for Ebonkydkayama matayamawere also cut by And6 Enshi, not before 1803 (the evidence of the Gion flag), that they were partly cut on the reverse of the blocks used for the older book and that the blocks left the possession of the firm alreadyin its decline,2 and came either via some unknown person or via Hokusai himself into Von Siebold's possession and so to Holland. Incidentally, the make up of the mata pages is rathersimilar in both books, kydkaand all.13I must prefer the Ehonkydkayama its and of there a is because design throughout pages. greaterunity composition yama

Theodore Duret, Livreset Albums illustris duJapon, Paris s. d., page 183. 9 "Tatsoumassa" is wrong here. The right, 'on', reading is "Shinsei". 10 Op. cit. pages 18o, 181. Meishois wrong here. I cannot imagine how it has slipped in. "Tatsumasa"is also wrong. It is in this connection remarkable that the Ukiyo-ejiten mentions this book as Tdto meishoichiran,leaving out "shokei", famous places, perhaps from an alternative title pasted on some wrapper, beautiful scenery, and using instead "meisho", for it is not in the book itself which clearly reads shokeiwithout any meisho. and mentions only Tsutaya Jiisabur6 as its publisher. 1" Nakata, op. cit., says about this book: 2 vols. Kansei 12 (1800oo) 12 Ukiyo-e Quartet, pages io- i. 13 Some pages are even very similar in composition and drawing, others show marked differences.
8

65