A rare early edition of portraits of the 47 Ronins

Tanaka, Umesaburo. The Portraits of the "Forty-Seven Ronins" with the Biographical Sketch of each "Ronin".

€ 3,500.00

A rare early edition of a work introducing heroes of popular Samurai stories. Later, smaller versions were published in 1887 and 1893. Impressively illustrated, the book provides a visually compelling overview of the 47 Ronins, whose legends were popular in Meiji-era Japan as examples of loyalty and perseverance.

This 1885 edition can be identified by the spelling of the author's name alternately as Umesaburo and Mumesaburo: in the 1887 version, it was spelt Usaburo. A further, smaller edition was printed on crepe paper in 1893. This variation in spellings in transliteration serves as a reminder that this volume was produced at a time of increasing contact between Japan and the West.

Samurai left leaderless after the death of their Daimyo, Asano Naganori, the 47 Ronin undertook to avenge their lord against his killer. Based on a historical incident in eighteenth-century Japan, the Chushingura (Treasury of the Faithful Retainers) became a popular literary tradition. In the Meiji era, as Japan rapidly modernised, the tales became bound up with narratives of national identity and cultural values. This edition comprises descriptions of Daimyo Asano and forty-nine ronin, each hero shown in a traditional Japanese ceremonial robe along with a short biography in English. The dramatic and colourful illustrations are highlighted with gum arabic and silver metallic paint.

A visually impressive introduction to a classic Japanese tradition, and a rarity especially in this printing: Rare Book Hub lists no other printings of the 1885 edition in recent sales.