Ehon kōkyō 絵本孝経

FSC-GR-780.221.1-2

Commentary by Ann Yonemura

Posted November 2014

Ehon kōkyō, illustrated by Hokusai with commentary by Takai Ranzan (1762–1838), has a preface dated Tenpō 5 (1834). The text is the Chinese Xiaojing, Confucius’s teachings on filial piety. This two-volume set, the earlier of two examples in the Pulverer collection, has a colophon that identifies the publisher as Suharaya Shinbei, the block-cutter as Egawa Sentaro, and the date of publication as Kaei 3 (1850). The publisher’s trade name, Sūzanbō, appears in the hashira on each sheet.

Hokusai designed the illustrations for this book during a period of renewed focus on Chinese subjects, especially poetry and classical literature. His largest sustained project in this area was to illustrate sixty-two volumes of a serial publication of Shinpen Suikoden gaden (Illustrated new edition of Suikoden), a Japanese adaptation of the popular adventure tales of Chinese warriors, Suikoden (Chinese: Shuihuzhuan, Tales of the water margin) published between 1805 and 1829. This extensive, best-selling series was completed from books 63 to 91 by Hokusai’s pupil Taito II (active circa 1810–53). Takai Ranzan, author of the Japanese commentary for the classical Chinese text of Ehon kōkyō, translated and adapted the Suikoden series after the renowned novelist Kyokutei Bakin (1767–1848) withdrew from the project (Hillier 1980, p. 73).

Hokusai’s illustrations for Ehon kōkyō were not based exclusively on Chinese sources. An image of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) shows the aged poet pausing along a steep, narrow mountain path, facing a ledge near a famous hanging bridge. Bashō’s haiku from his Sarahina nikki travel diary is quoted on the page (Hillier 1980, p. 209). By including Japanese poets among the illustrations of a classical Chinese text, Hokusai expresses his respect for the poets of both traditions. In this sense, he elevates Japanese poets, even those of modern times, to a status that matches the revered and prestigious Chinese poets of the distant past.

Selected reading:

Jack Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration (London: Sotheby Parke-Bernet Publications; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), pp. 73–77, 207–209.

Toda Kenji, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago (1931; repr., Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2005), p. 265.

Copies in other collections:

Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson Collection

Freer Gallery of Art, Gerhard Pulverer Collection FSC-GR-780.221

Ehon Kōkyō