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CHAPTER THREE

Book Illustrations

FIG. 33a Travelers with baggage climbing a slope.

Although the technique of printing from woodblocks had been known in Japan since the eighth century, the first Japanese illustrated woodblock-printed book did not appear until the early years of the seventeenth century. By the eleventh century, as Buddhism from China took hold in Japan, Buddhist temples were producing their own woodblock-printed books of sutras, mandalas and other Buddhist scriptures and images. Temples also distributed images to pilgrims as votive prints, amulets or in exchange for monetary offerings. Buddhists believed that creating numerous images of the Buddha would help to prepare one’s path toward salvation. One way of doing this was to stamp hundreds of block-carved images. Sheets of stamped images were also used as offerings for the dead and, as we have seen in Chapter 1, printed sheets of sutras were placed inside religious icons or statues as a form of thanksgiving. For centuries, printing was the virtual monopoly of Buddhists as it was too expensive for mass production. Moreover, outside the religious sphere, it did not have a receptive, literate public.

In about 1600, the first Japanese movable type, using some 100,000 wooden type pieces, was created under the direction of Tokugawa Ieyasu and was used to print a number of political and historical texts. But it soon became clear that the running script style of Japanese writings was more effectively reproduced using woodblocks and so these were again adopted and by the mid-1600s were used for nearly all printing. The images continued to be cut. The woodblock medium, although time-consuming and expensive, was far less so than the traditional method of copying books by hand. It rapidly gained popularity among artists and calligraphers and was used to produce small, cheap art prints as well as books. At a small studio in Saga, Honami Koetsu (1558–1637) and Suminokura Soan (1570–1632) created woodblocks of both the texts and images of several Japanese classics, among them the Ise monogatari (The Tales of Ise) in 1608, for a small circle of literary connoisseurs. Other printers in Kyoto quickly adapted the technique to producing cheaper books in large numbers for a wider, more general audience. These books included travel guides, novels, play scripts, art books and books on urban culture. Yet other publishers produced both books and single-sheet pictures. At the time, of course, the images in these books as well as the art prints were almost always monochrome, although occasionally colors were painted in by hand. The illustrations were often crude and subordinate to the text. There is also a general uniformity to the books and in almost all cases the identity of the artist is unknown. Soon, however, the illustrations became more and important and provided the masses with an affordable form of art. Even the illiterate, who wanted to be entertained although they could not read, bought books purely for the enjoyment of the pictures, including erotic picture books and fashion books of kimono patterns. Many of the illustrations in these books came to be contributed by well-known artists in contrast to the anonymous craftsmen of the past.

As mentioned in the introduction to this book, the so-called “primitive” ukiyo-e printing period began with the bold black and white designs of Hishikawa Moronobu (1618–94), who turned out hundreds of prints for illustrated books (e-hon), many of which were later unbound and sold as individual pictures. For this reason, it is impossible to separate the illustrated book in Japanese woodblock printing from single-sheet pictures. The only major difference is the purpose of the art form. Thus, the subject matter of a book became the main determining factor in the artist’s approach to the pictures he created.

In response to the demands of the merchant commoner class during the seventeenth century for images of contemporary urban life in a new style, ukiyo-e artists began to blend elements from the traditional styles of painting in which they had been trained, such as the Tosa, Nanga, Maruyama-Shijo and Kano schools, with fashionable modern approaches to develop a hybrid form of popular art. The artists were not totally dedicated to the rules and traditions of these schools and deviated quite liberally according to the texts they were illustrating and the artistic trends of the time. Eventually, book illustrations would encompass all these aesthetic approaches to picture making, leading to an eclecticism of several styles that became typical of ukiyo-e.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, the Tosa school of painting, founded in the fifteenth century, was the dominant influence on ukiyo-e. Exponents of the Tosa school painted mostly for the court and for aristocratic patrons who favored classic scenes as well as Chinese-inspired themes and styles, such as bird and flower paintings. Their painting style was distinguished by flat decorative compositions with fine, detailed line work and brilliant colors. Although the new breed of ukiyo-e artists adopted some Tosa elements, one of the major differences between the evolving ukiyo-e and the classic Tosa illustrations was the treatment of the figure. Whereas in the early Tosa illustrations the figure was an incidental part of a large scene, in ukiyo-e the figure became the main focus of attention. Indeed, figures become so large as to take up the entire space, reducing the background to an accommodating sub-factor.

As the seventeenth century drew to a close, there was a gradual transformation from Tosa-inspired illustrations to the more commonly accepted ukiyo-e tradition. This new era of pictorial illustration did not entirely abandon classical subjects, such as scenes of nature, but it focused on subjects that were more specific, more relevant to the everyday life of the patrons of ukiyo-e, especially in the major cities of Edo, Osaka and Kyoto, experiences that were distinct from the ostensibly more refined tastes of the ruling élite. It was a slow evolution but the enormity of it without doubt signaled a complete shake-up of the Japanese art world. It was at this time that we start to witness the Japanese culture that the West associates with Japan. The subject matter described the pleasures of living in the big cities— kabuki theater, sumo wrestling and, above all, the amorous adventures that awaited young men at the pleasure quarter.

At this time, too, there were two distinct regional styles of ukiyo-e, the dominant Edo school, centered in the city of the same name, and the Kamigata style, from an area encompassing Kyoto and nearby Osaka, the former cultural and economic heart of Japan. Apart from the fact that the volume of Edo prints far outnumbered those published by the Kamigata artists, the main difference lay in the range of subject matter. Whereas Kamigata prints almost exclusively depicted kabuki actors, those from Edo portrayed the whole gamut of contemporary urban subject matter. Aesthetically, there was not much difference at this time between the two worlds. Moreover, lots of artists moved back and forth between the cities since they were all major publishing centers. It was only at the end of the eighteenth century that the distinct appearance of the Kamigata prints is more noticeable, especially in those featuring large heads of kabuki actors.

Several big names are associated with ukiyo-e book illustrations. An important Kyoto illustrator at the beginning of the eighteenth century was Omori Yoshikiyo (active 1702–17). Even though little is known about his life, he produced some of the most remarkable images of the courtesan in the Shimabara district of Kyoto, the equivalent of the pleasure quarter in the more famous Yoshiwara of Edo.

For much of the eighteenth century, the Torii samurai clan in Edo, initially producers of kabuki theater billboards, posters and other promotional materials, were highly influential in the ukiyoe depiction of actors and kabuki scenes. Led by Torii Kiyonobu I (1664–1729), who moved from Osaka to Edo in 1687 where he studied under Moronobu Hishikawa, among others, a greater emphasis on the energetic action and dramatic poses that one would see on the kabuki stage was introduced in full-size independent paintings and prints characterized by bold, thick lines. As the Torii school expanded, series of picture books with little text but very fanciful in spirit were produced. The books became known by the colors of their covers— red, black or blue. Paintings and prints of courtesans, erotic scenes and sumo in more graceful, delicate mainstream ukiyo-e styles also became a part of the Torii repertoire. Torii Kiyonaga (1752– 1815), the last of the great Torii artists and one of the greatest of all ukiyo-e artists, retained much of the drama, energy and theatrical sensibility of the core Torii style, but he also introduced a previously unseen level of realism in his depictions of the urban culture of Edo, including its beautiful women.

The most important of the picture book artists is without a doubt Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), the former name referring to the part of Edo where he was born, whom we shall meet again in later chapters, so broad was his repertoire. He is the most prolific artist the world has ever seen. His prints number in the tens of thousands. He had a long life, dying at eighty-nine. It was also a complicated life. Either for monetary reasons or to make a new start, he changed his name some thirty times, sometimes even setting his name so that another poor artist could profit from his reputation.

Of the countless books Hokusai illustrated, two in particular stand out. The first is One Hundred Views of Mount (Fugaku Hyakkei), a three-volume work published in 1834 and 1835 (Fig. 33a–i). Considered the masterpiece among his landscape picture books, the series was printed three times during his lifetime and countless times since. Although the illustrations lack the glamor of some of his most famous pictures, such as “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” and “Red Fuji” from his earlier series, Fugaku Sanjuroku-kei (Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji), published in 1831, they embody something far more significant. They show what a creative spirit can impart on a single and simple theme—a mountain venerated by generations of Japanese as the source of the secret of immortality. Even today, climbing Mount Fuji is a cherished task by Japanese and foreigners alike. The two Fuji series started a whole new style of landscape ukiyo-e. Not only did they secure Hokusai fame at home and abroad, they were also to leave a lasting impression on the art world, including leading artists in nineteenth-century Europe.

FIG. 33b Geese flying over a lake with Mount Fuji reflected in the water.

FIG. 33c Decorative sculpture of a mythological fish with a bird perched on top.

FIG. 33d Travelers coming and going toward Mount Fuji with a kite in the foreground.

FIG. 33e The umbrella maker.

FIG. 33f Travelers passing under a religious ornament tied to a tree in the foreground.

FIG. 33g Fuji seen through a natural rock formation.

FIG. 33h An optical illusion when Mount Fuji appears upside down through two glass surfaces.

FIG. 33i Pure Hokusai “great wave” theme where waves mingle with water birds.

FIG. 33a–i

Katsushika HOKUSAI

北斎 (1760–1849)

Fugaku Hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji) 富嶽百景 より (1834, 1835)

Book, 3 volumes, 22.5 x 16 cm Author’s Collection

Hokusai had a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. The views in both his Fuji books depict not only the whole mountain but also include imaginative treatments of it as a mere background detail—seen through a window, reflected in water, viewed as a silhouette or just a shadow. It is beyond comprehension how Hokusai could conceive the inventive composition on each page using only black lines and gray tones.

In the postscript to Fugaku Hyakkei, Hokusai wrote what I believe epitomizes his life: “From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the forms of things. By the time I was fifty I had published an infinity of designs; but all I produced before the age of seventy is not worth taking into account. At seventy-three I learned a little about the real structure of nature, of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes and insects. In consequence when I am eighty I shall have made more progress; at ninety I shall penetrate the mystery of things; at a hundred I shall certainly have reached a marvelous stage; and when I am a hundred and ten everything I do, be it a dot or a line, will be alive. I beg those who live as long as I to see if I do not keep my word.”

Hokusai’s second great achievement was the hugely successful fifteen-volume Hokusai Manga published between 1814 and 1834 (Fig. 34a–j). Crammed with nearly 4,000 sketches, the books constitute a veritable encyclopedia of Japanese life. By covering every topic imaginable, from flora and fauna to everyday life and the supernatural, Hokusai transformed ukiyo-e from portraiture focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader genre. Although drawn in three art styles— Tosa, Kano and ukiyo-e —the ukiyo-e style dominates the entire set. The best prints depict the different occupations of the common people as well as samurai. Hokusai’s people are drawn with a humor and wit never seen before. They also reveal his remarkable knowledge and understanding of the human body. For this reason, I consider Hokusai, together with Rembrandt, the two greatest draftsmen who ever lived. Both men are noteworthy for the quick, decisive way they could put complicated forms and actions on paper without unnecessary detail. The Hokusai Manga continues to be reprinted regularly, with new blocks being cut. Meiji period copies done in the late nineteenth century are expensive, even as copies.

Picture books during the Hokusai years flourished and most artists were happy to enter the world of publishing. It was good business and many artists, especially in Edo, were able to make a comfortable living. Subject matter ranged from pure comics to travel guides, the theater and, naturally, the gay quarter. These were the subjects the ukiyo-e masters thrived on, that offered unlimited aesthetic possibilities, providing them with a good livelihood and helping to establish their reputations. One such artist was Katsushika Taito II (active 1810–53), a pupil of Taito I, the name Katsushika Hokusai used between 1811 and 1820. Taito II was one of Katsushika Hokusai’s best pupils and collaborated with his mentor on early volumes of the Hokusai Manga and other illustrated books. Hokusai gave Taito II his name in 1820. Unsurprisingly, Taito II worked in much the style of his great master (Fig. 37a–c).

At the same time, artists from other schools of art ventured into the illustrated book world. Among them were descendants of the hereditary secular painters of the Kano school of painting. Their interests lay less in illustrating novels than in keeping alive the traditions of Kano Tanyu (1602–74), the most successful member of the Kano school in the Edo period and the principal decorator of the massive castles and sumptuous homes of the samurai class. For these he created a number of large-scale works for screens and wall panels depicting natural subjects in bright colors and with extensive use of gold leaf. Tanyu’s later return to the restrained designs and subdued tones of the early Kano painters, and a renewed interest in ink monochrome, set the standards for the later Kano artists who ventured into book illustration but were keen to transmit the Kano school style. Many of their illustrations were copies of well-known paintings by past Kano masters in which detailed realistic depictions of animals and other subjects in the foreground were juxtaposed with “negative space” implying mist, clouds, sea or sky in the background or to indicate distance. They also produced instruction manuals on how to paint in the traditional manner.

Other painting schools influenced the development of ukiyo-e. One was the Nanga (“Southern painting”) or Literati school in Kyoto, named after the Chinese Southern school of painting. Nanga artists considered themselves intellectuals or literati and shared an admiration for Chinese culture. Their paintings, usually rendered in black ink, sometimes with soft colors, almost always depicted traditional Chinese subjects such as landscapes and birds and flowers. One of the most important painters and book illustrators of the Nanga or Literati school of artists was Tani Buncho (1763–1840) (Fig. 35a, b). Although he studied the painting techniques of the Kano school in his youth and worked with masters of other schools to develop a wide stylistic range, he is best known for his Chinese-inspired landscapes in the literati style. He illustrated almost thirty books, mostly with landscapes.

Another Kyoto painting school was the Maruyama, founded by the realist painter Maruyama Okyo (1733–95), who advocated tranquil Western naturalism mixed with the Eastern decorative style of the Kano school. An offshoot of the Maruyama, the Shijo school, named after the street in Kyoto where many major artists were based, was started by one of Okyo’s former students, Matsumura Goshun (1752– 1811). The Shijo style was a synthesis of the rival Nanga and Maruyama schools, focusing on Western-influenced objective realism but achieved with traditional Japanese painting techniques.

FIG. 34a

Samurai and mythological characters (Vol. 4).

FIG. 34b

Birds, some of which are in flight. (We must remember the careful observation necessary to draw from memory as there was no photography) (Vol. 4).

FIG. 34c–e

Architectural roof details (Vol. 5).

FIG. 34f

Samurai armor and weapons (Vol. 6).

FIG. 34g

Positions of fighting with a spear (Vol. 6).

FIG. 34h

An angry horse being controlled by a woman (Vol. 9).

FIG. 34i

A fat man washing and preparing food (Vol. 9).

FIG. 34j

A samurai contemplating a turbulent sea (Vol. 9).

FIG. 34a–j

Katsushika HOKUSAI 北斎 (1760–1849)

Hokusai Manga 北斎漫 画より (1814–34)

Book, 15 volumes, 22.5 x 16 cm

Courtesy of Hara Shobo

Hokusai’s fifteen-volume Manga, a compilation of over 4,000 drawings of everyday people, animals, religious figures, etc. is an amazing feat of conceptual ideas. Although the series does not have the aesthetic appeal of the Fugaku Hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji), it is astonishing for the breadth of its subject matter and is at once humorous, scientific and beautiful. The later volumes do not have the verve and liveliness of the early volumes but are still remarkable. The examples shown are taken from four of the original volumes.

FIG. 35a, b

Tani BUNCHO

谷 文晁 (1763–1840)

Nihon Meisan Zue (Mountains of Japan) 日本名山図絵 (1804)

Book, 3 volumes, 25 x 35 cm

Author’s Collection

Considered one of Buncho’s masterpieces of book illustration, the pictures in this book are painted in the typical Northern Chinese literal style of rendering volume. Mountains assume shapes that are articulated with nothing but thin lines of sumi ink. The darker tones are groupings of trees growing around the contours of the large masses. A closer look reveals the villages at the base of the mountains. The implied scale of human habitants to the grandeur of the mountains creates a contrast so great that it leaves us in awe.

FIG. 36a, b

ANONYMOUS

Land Suitable for Rice Cultivation

稲作 (1896)

Book, 20 x 13.5 cm

Author’s Collection

Occasionally, books of scientific interest or those aligned with the particular interests of publishers were produced. The illustrations for this book, published in Kyoto in 1896, are exceptional. Examples of the sketches of rice and the environments in which rice grows would have been of great interest to a specialized agricultural-minded audience. They are included here to give the reader an idea of the broad scope of subject matter covered in nineteenth-century book publishing.

One such illustrated book deserves particular mention, the three-volume Seitei Kacho Gafu (Seitei’s Album of Birds and Flowers) published in the Meiji period (1868–1912). The artist, Watanabe Seitei (1851–1918), was primarily a painter who also illustrated some beautiful books, most of which concentrated on flowers and birds (Fig. 38a–d). In these he blended Western realism with the delicate colors and washes of the Maruyama-Shijo school, thereby introducing a new approach to bird and flower painting (kacho-e). Japanese artists devoted a great amount of time studying the anatomy and flying patterns of birds. When we think there was no photography at the time, it is uncanny to imagine an artist so well versed in the characteristics of birds that he can picture them in such natural states as Seitei does in his book. It is absolutely beautiful, with each page more stunning than the last. The printing makes extensive use of the bokashi gradation technique. Many of the illustrations approach the appearance of watercolors. They epitomize the essence of Japanese taste.

Artists from the powerful and prolific Utagawa school worked in all genres of ukiyo-e, including book illustrations. One of the finest exponents was Utagawa Sadahide Gyokuransai (1807–73), who illustrated many books relating to warriors (Fig. 39a–g).

The artists mentioned above, among many, many others, contributed to some of the most beautiful books of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The illustrations in these books developed into a pure Japanese aesthetic sensitivity in composition and understanding of form. They were no longer dependent on a black outline and achieved what seemed impossible in the medium of book illustration through woodblock printing.

FIG. 37a–c

Katsushika TAITO II

二代載斗 (active 1810–53)

Kacho Gaden (Picture Book of Flowers and Birds) 花鳥畫田

Book, 2 volumes, 22 x 13.5 cm

Author’s Collection

We can see Hokusai’s mastery of space and design in his student’s work. The birds in all three examples are full of life, playfully flying around flowers or diving into the rapidly flowing river. Apart from the green at the foot of the geese, the book is printed in black, gray and pink.

FIG. 38a–d

Watanabe SEITEI

渡邊省亭 (1851–1918)

Seitei Kacho Gafu (Seitei’s Bird and Flower Album) 省亭花鳥画譜 (1916)

Book, 3 volumes, 24.5 x 16.5 cm

Author’s Collection

Seitei’s simple, asymmetrical compositions combine graceful calligraphic lines with delicate details and shading. In almost all of them, the subject is positioned in the corner of the design, leaving the rest of the page as negative space. His work was influenced by contemporary European paintings, which utilized light and shadow and perspective to give the impression of dimensionality.

FIG. 39a The samurai in his undergarments.

FIG. 39b Putting on gloves and donning his outer garment.

FIG. 39c Lacing his socks.

FIG. 39d Tying his fur-lined boots.

FIG. 39e The back of the samurai as he secures his armor.

FIG. 39f His armor in place as well as his elaborate sword.

FIG. 39g

His helmet and arrows in their quiver, giving him the fierce look of a high-ranking samurai.

FIG. 39h

The battle begins with an onslaught of arrows.

FIG. 39a–h

Utagawa SADAHIDE Gyokuransai

玉蘭斉 貞秀 (1807–73)

From Eyu Sanjyu Rokkasen Gafu

英雄三十六歌仙より (1847)

Book, 18 x 12.5 cm

Author’s Collection

Although Sadahide was a leading exponent of the panoramic view, painting bird’s-eye views of Japan’s main cities, he also illustrated many books related to warriors. This unusual book, published in 1847 by the Toto Book Store in Osaka, describes a samurai preparing for battle. Even though the samurai wears a sword, as we can see the battle is mostly conducted with bow and arrows.