The first Japanese illustrated book: a masterpiece of the Saga-bon

[Nakanoin Michikatsu (Yasoku-so), ed.]. Ise Monogatori [The Tales of Ise].

Auf Anfrage

The first printed edition of the popular "Ise Monogatari" (or "Tales of Ise"). Published by Suminokura Soan (1571-1632), a wealthy entrepreneur, scholar, and art connoisseur, this is the first work of Japanese literature to be illustrated with woodcuts, and also one of the earliest to be printed with moveable type, a technique then newly imported from Korea.

Soan’s printing establishment, a luxury private press set up at Saga village near Kyoto, produced the much sought-after "Saga-bon" imprints, famous for their beautiful hiragana type modelled on the script of Hon'ami Koetsu, a renowned painter, calligrapher and polymath. Of all productions of that press, this 1608 first edition of the "Ise Monogatari" is the most highly prized. First issues such as the present one are identified by the autograph signature (or 'kakihan') of the scholar-editor below the printed colophon, probably indicating that these copies were presented as gifts: "Sozen" is the name which Nakanoin (1558-1610) assumed as a Buddhist priest. Unusually, it is written over a variant, Buddhist version of his seal as "Yasoku", which may indicate that this was a gift for his Zen Master.

The "Tales of Ise" constitute an anonymous medieval compilation of poems and episodes from the life of an unnamed lover-poet. Enormously popular, these amorous exploits have been considered a kind of Japanese 'ars amatoria'; they had long been a popular subject matter for manuscript illustration, and so it is little surprise that they would be chosen for the first illustrated Japanese printed book. These 49 woodcuts, the earliest examples of Ukiyo-e illustration, would serve as models for much Japanese art which followed. The illustrator is unknown, but some have attributed the cuts to Koetsu.

Printed on gampi paper of a specially sumptuous consistency, equivalent in prestige to the parchment used in Europe, but of a softer, more absorbent texture. The sheets were dyed with five different colours to evoke the luxury and resplendence of the medieval Heian period.

Very few copies of the first issue were made. The only recorded copy sold at auction in the West within the last half century was a specimen from the Donald and Mary Hyde collection (with manuscript kakihan), sold by Christie's in 1988 for the benefit of the Morgan Library. It is believed to have been purchased by the famed bookseller Shigeo Sorimachi on behalf of Oyama College. In Japan, copies with manuscript kakihan are found at the Kyoto University Library, Goto Museum, Toyo Bunko Library, and Tohoku University Library. One copy was acquired by the University of Illinois in 2012, to commemorate the 13 millionth book in their library; another is in the Spencer Collection of the NYPL. The present copy is superior to that in the British Library, which has been rebound, Western-style, in one volume. Another copy exists at the Östasiatiska biblioteket in Sweden, and one more in Cambridge University Library (a later issue, printed from a woodblock rather than movable type).