Ukiyo-e Book / Japanese Woodblock Print / Kusazoshi

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Ukiyo-e Book / Japanese Woodblock Print / Kusazoshi

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Sold Date: 10/05/2008
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

The title of this two-volume kusazoshi , or ukiyoe graphic novel, is "Kinka Shichi Henge" (roughly, "Seven Changes of the Golden Flower"), and its two parts comprise Chapter 14 of a 31-chapter saga. Although it does not explicitly say the date it was published, on the last page of the second volume t is an ad for upcoming kusazoshi to be released in the autumn of the year Genji 2, or 1865, and so this one is no doubt from either 1864 or 1865 (and probably the latter). (As a footnote to this, t was no year Genji 2, because the Genji Emperor died after only about one year on the throne, and so 1865 became Keiou Gan-nen, or the First Year of Keiou.) When placed side-by-side, the covers of the two volumes form a single picture, as shown in the first sample pic.
The ukiyoe artist indicated on the cover is the ubiquitous Utagawa Kunisada (also known as Toyokuni III), but we are unable to read the name of the author, which may actually be Chinese. Kusazoshi were very popular in the 19th century, like a very early precoursor to the manga , and in content were very much like today's mass-market novels.
Almost every two-page spread is a black-and-white woodblock diptych like those shown in the sample pics, although the first two pages of the first volume have some blue in them as well, and the covers are in full color. Each volume has 12 page-leafs, including covers.

T is some wear-and-tear on the outsides of the books, but the bindings and all the pages are fully intact (although the threads of one of them appear to be a modern repair). The pages have almost no yellowing, but are not quite so bright as they may appear in the sample pics, although the covers are still fairly bright. The only significant damage is one worm-hole through all the pages of one voume, and the same worm's work extending about halfway through the other volume (going from back to front).

Each measures about W4 9/16" (116mm) X H7" (178mm) X D1/16" (2.5mm).

This item is set to ship via Air Mail, and should arrive within 7-14 days after being posted.

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