KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849), illustrator: Hakoya no yama; colophon signed Toto Rokujuen Sensei etsu (perused), Zen Hokusai Sensei ga, Ohan Chikuian, Tatsunobeya ko (edited), dated Bunsei kanotomi (1821), published by Tohekido (Eirakuya Toshiro); fukurotoji-bon, 1 vol. complete (27.6 x 18.8 cm.), block printed in color, yellow wrapper, title slip with dragons and clouds on the border in black on red paper, sewn, in chitsu, good impression and color, slight stains and rubbing

Details

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849), illustrator: Hakoya no yama; colophon signed Toto Rokujuen Sensei etsu (perused), Zen Hokusai Sensei ga, Ohan Chikuian, Tatsunobeya ko (edited), dated Bunsei kanotomi (1821), published by Tohekido (Eirakuya Toshiro); fukurotoji-bon, 1 vol. complete (27.6 x 18.8 cm.), block printed in color, yellow wrapper, title slip with dragons and clouds on the border in black on red paper, sewn, in chitsu, good impression and color, slight stains and rubbing

Contents: 21 leaves, unnumbered, 1 p. title (Kyoka gashu) Hakoya no yama, 1 p. preface, signed Rokujuen, 1 p. illustration, 19 double-page illustrations accompanied by kyoka poems, last page illustration with poems by Tatsunobeya and Chikuian, inside back cover colophon

Literature

Jack Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration, Sotheby Parke Bernet, University of California Press, 1980; Richard Lane, Hokusai: Life and Work, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1989; Japanese edition translated by Takeuchi Yasuyuki, Denki Gashu Hokusai, Tokyo: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 1995

Lot Essay

This book (Kyoka gafu) Hakoya no yama, 1821, is the second edition of a book published under the original title of Ehon Ryuhitsu by Eirakuya of Nagoya. Ehon Ryuhitsu "Picture book for two brushes" is a joint work by Hokusai and the Osaka artist Ryukosai (fl. 1770-1809) believed published in 1819-1820 as there is no date in the colophon. As stated in the colophon, Hokusai was responsible for "figures, birds and beasts" and Ryukosai for "landscapes and vegetation." Ehon Ryuhitsu is itself the second edition in one volume with the same illustrations but new kyoka poems of Hyosui kiga, 1818, a two-volume adaptation by Hokusai of Ryukosai's 1803 book, Gekijo gashi.

(Kyoka gafu) Hakoya no yama has twenty color plates, one plate less than Ehon Ryuhitsu. The introduction to the new poems in this edition is by the famous novelist and kyoka poet Rokujuen and Ryukosai's name is omitted in the colophon.