Dealing in fine Japanese prints, paintings and books since 1968
Dealing in fine Japanese prints, paintings and books since 1968
Click here to view image full size. A chuban from the set Byu Suikoden, “Beauty and Valour in the Novel Suikoden.” An adaption of the classic Chinese Water Margin novel. Shows the revengeful Lady Shiranui driving nails into the crucified…
Click here to view image full size. The actor Ichimura Kakitsu IV as Shirataki no Sakichi from a set: Rien kyokaku den, “The Story of a Chivalrous Man in the Theatrical World.” Kabuki actors playing legendary chivalrous outlaws – otokodate.…
Click here to view image full size. The actor Nakamura Shikan IV as Asahina Tobei from a set: Rien kyokaku den, “The Story of a Chivalrous Man in the Theatrical World.” Kabuki actors playing legendary chivalrous outlaws – otokodate. Shows…
Click here to view image full size. A scene taken from the Chinese 14th century heroic novel San guo zhi yanyi, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” attributed to Luo Guanzhong. Shows in the centre Liu Bei (Jap. Ryubei), the founder…
Click here to view image full size. Click here to view image full size. An original double-sided wood block, c. 1715. This is the earliest block I have catalogued or indeed seen. Shows warriors in combat on one side and…
Click here to view image full size. The priest Nichiren standing on a rocky promontory at Reizen in Kamakura and having his prayers for rain answered. The event occurred in 1271. His disciples surround him and protect him from the…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych, Akechi Samanosuke Mitsuhara kosui joho Karasaki matsu no zu. Shows Akechi Samanosuke Mitsuhara swimming with his horse and with his kikyo (Chinese bell flower) standard tied to his back across Lake…
Click here to view image full size. A vertical diptych Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen sembo kito no zu. Shows Shunkan watching a boat sail away from Kikai Island with his pardoned compatriots. Shunkan, the abbot…
Click here to view image full size. A very early and extremely rare diptych showing Hakamadare Yasusuke and Hirai no Yasumasa. A famous story depicted many times by other artists during the following century. The story relates how Yasumasa, an…
Click here to view image full size. A pillar print showing a young dandy holding an Odawara lantern on entering a Shinto shrine. One leg of the Torii is in the background behind a hinoki tree. Another impression is illustrated…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing the killing of the giant Earth Spider in its cave. These Tsuchigumo were a form of spider-like yokai. Minamoto no Yorimitsu’s (aka Raiko, 948-1021) retainers (The Four Heavenly Kings) are…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing Fujiwara no Hidesato being accompanied by a retinue of fish, octopuses and lobsters as he leaves the Dragon King’s Palace with the presents of inexhaustible rice, bolts of cloth, and…
Click here to view image full size. Kobayakawa Takakage debating with the tengu on mount Hiko from Shinkei sanjurokkaisen, “New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts.”The set published by Sasaki Toyokichi, 1889-1892 (this being 1892). Very fine first edition. Fine colour…
Click here to view image full size. Shows Asahina Saburo Yoshihide, the fabled warrior of superhuman strength, subjugating the King of Hell, Ema-o. He forces him to indicate the path to Heaven. This episode is from the kabuki play Asahina.…
Click here to view image full size. Shows the famed warrior Sanada Saemon-no-jo Yukimura (in fact Nobushige) crouching down amongst giant lotus plants, holding a rifle, in order to ambush Tokugawa Ieyasu during the siege of Osaka castle. Initially, Yukimura…
Click here to view image full size. Shows Chao Gai (Jap. Takuto Tenno Chogai), the Heavenly King and Suikoden hero, lifting a stone pagoda which releases a Pandora’s box of gruesome spirits: An enormous white figure with a face on…
Click here to view image full size. The last stand of the Kusunoki at Shijonawate in 1348. The battle between Ko no Moronao of the Northern Court and Kusunoki Masatsura of the Southern Court. Shows the warriors Genshu, Masatsura and…
Click here to view image full size. Sasai Kyuzo Masayasu enveloped in smoke and avoiding musketry at the battle of Anegawa. The best design from the set Taiheiki yeiyuden, “Heroic Stories of the Taiheiki.” A history of the wars of…
Click here to view image full size. Shows Hatsuhana’s long penance under the Tonozawa waterfall to aid her crippled husband “Hazari” Katsugoro who is intent on revenging his brother’s murder. Hatsuhana dies, Katsugoro is cured and kills his arch enemy…
Click here to view image full size. Koshibe no Sugaru amidst a thunderbolt and lightning captures a raiju (thunder monster) in the village of Toyora. Toyora no sato ni rai o torau. Its body was composed of lightning and usually…
Click here to view image full size. Shows Matsuura Sayohime at the top of Kagami Mountain at Matsuura sadly watching her departing husband, Otomo no Sadehiko, on his way to Korea. It’s told she prayed with such fervour that she…
Click here to view image full size. Kaneko Kugutsune (aka Okane, Kane-jo, and Omi no Okane) from the set Chuko meiyo kijin den, “Stories of Remarkable Persons of Loyalty and High Reputation.” Published by Iseya Ichiemon or Enshuya Matabei (this…
Click here to view image full size. Musashi-bo Benkei of herculean strength subdued by the young Onzoshi Ushiwaka Maru (Yoshitsune) on Gojo Bridge. The story relates how Benkei (1155-1189) wandered around Kyoto with the intention of relieving 1000 samurai of…
Click here to view image full size. “Flood” from a series Seiu kandankei, “A Barometer of Emotions.” Shows Nakamura Shikan III as Abe Bungo no Kami riding his horse through waves. Published by Okura Magobei 1876-77 (this being 1876). A…
Click here to view image full size. Yamamoto Kansuke striding through the snow. “Boar” from a set Mitate junishi, “Selection for the Twelve Signs.” Published by Ibaya Kyubei, c 1845. (Kansuke was famous for killing a giant boar in the…
Click here to view image full size. A vertical diptych Seigen daraku no zu showing the priest Seigen of the Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto and the beautiful Sakura-hime (Princess Sakura). Several versions of the story exist. In one, Sakura-hime is…
Click here to view image full size. The fifteen year old Otani Furuinosuke killing a giant boar with his bare hands. From a set Honcho Suikoden goyu happyakunin no hitori, “One of the Eight Hundred Heroes of the Water Margin…
Click here to view image full size. A fine design showing the outlaw Yasusuke Hakamadare surrounded by a giant snake amidst falling leaves. He was able to disguise himself using the skins of animals and this translated into the notion…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing one of the great combats of the Gempei wars during the battle of Ichi-no-Tani to the west of Kobe in 1184. In the centre the Taira leader Satsuma no Kami…
Click here to view image full size. A complete diptych showing Miyamoto Musashi dressed for travelling looking across at Sasaki Kojiro who stands in profile with clenched fist. These two great swordsmen agreed to fight on April 13, 1612, on…