Ehon yotsu no toki 絵本よつのとき

FSC-GR 780.349.1-3

Commentary by Asano Shūgō

Posted December 3, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

This three-volume book of illustrated haikai verse is printed in monochrome. The breakdown of the structure of the three volumes is as follows: volume 1 includes an introduction followed by a single-page image, then twelve double-page illustrations, finishing with another single-page illustration. The second volume begins with a single-page image, followed by thirteen double-page openings, and concludes with another single-page illustration. Volume 3 likewise commences with a single-page image followed by thirteen double-page openings, and a page each devoted to hokku verse and to publication information.

Tani Sogai 谷素外 (1717–1809) composed the introduction in An’ei 3 (1774); he was a leading authority in the field of haikai as the seventh head of the Danrin school in Edo. He taught Kitao Shigemasa, the artist of this work. Sogai notes that he chose the poems and had the illustrations designed to match, indicating that Sogai oversaw the contents of the figures for the accompanying poems. Similar to the connection between the words haiku fūtei (誹句風躰) that constitute the short text (tsunogaki 角書き) before the external title (gedai 外題), the relationship between the poems and the pictures is likewise close—that is, the illustrations are pictorializations of the poems whose subjects are the customs and manners related to the four seasons in Edo. Volume 1 is devoted to spring, volume 2 focuses on summer, and volume 3 shows the customs of fall and winter. One could describe this work as an attempt at an Edo version of the type of picture-book showing seasonal customs in Kyoto illustrated by Nishikawa Sukenobu 西川祐信.

Ehon yotsu no toki (A picture-book of the four seasons) is representative of Shigemasa’s early work. There is no record of printings that exhibit differences in the recorded publication information; however, there are extant copies that include the catalogue (zōhan mokuroku 蔵版目録) of the publisher Suharaya Ichibē at the end of the last volume. This work is a very valuable document in that the publication information includes not only the names of the artist and the publisher, but also the names of three block-carvers.

書名　絵本よつのとき

執筆者浅野秀剛

墨摺俳諧絵本三冊。上巻十四丁、中巻十四丁、下巻十四丁半。上巻、序（叙）一丁、半丁図一、見開き図十二、半丁図一、中巻、半丁図一、見開き図十三、半丁図一、下巻、半丁図一、見開き図十三、発句半丁、刊記半丁。安永三年に序（叙）を認めた谷素外（1717–1809）は、江戸談林七世を名のる斯界の大御所。北尾重政の俳諧の師で、句中に画（絵）のあるものを選び、それに絵を合わせた旨を記している。そのとおりとすれば、句を選び図の内容を指示したのは素外ということになる。外題の角書きに「誹句風躰」とあるように、句と絵の関係は密接で、江戸の四季風俗を題材にした発句があり、それを絵画化したもの。西川祐信が刊行した、京の四季風俗絵本の江戸版を目指したものということができる。上巻に春、中巻に夏、下巻に秋冬の風俗を当てている。重政としては、初期を代表する絵本。刊記に違いのある版は報告されていないが、下巻の末に版元・須原屋市兵衛の蔵版目録が付いている伝本はある。刊記に、絵師と版元の他、三人の彫師の名が刻されているのは資料的に貴重である。

Selected readings:

Hinohara Kenji 日野原健司, “Kitao Shigemasa no eiri haisho: samazama na gabun kōkyō”「北尾重政の絵入俳書―さまざまな画文交響―」, in Shika to imēji『詩歌とイメージ』(Tokyo: Bensei Shuppan, 2013).

Kurokawa Mamichi 黒川真道, ed., Nihon fūzoku zue『日本風俗図会10』(Tokyo: Nihon Fūzoku Zue Kankōkai, 1915).

Matsudaira Susumu 松平進, “Explanatory Notes” (Kaisetsu 解説), in Kinsei Nihon fūzoku ehon shūsei 『近世日本風俗絵本集成』, 7th printing (Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten, 1980).

Copies in other collections:

Chiba City Museum of Art

Kyushu University, Fukuoka

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Tokyo Metropolitan Library

Tōyō Bunko, Tokyo

Yūtoku Inari Shrine, Kashima