Ehon ryōhitsu 絵本両筆

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Commentary by Ann Yonemura

Posted November 2014

The complex history of the illustrations of this undated volume is discussed at length in The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration by Jack Hillier.

Gekijō gashi (Pictorial history of the theater), published in 1803 and illustrated by the Osaka artist Ryūkōsai, was a series that depicted the locales in which familiar kabuki plays were set. Some of the landscapes feature characters from the plays. Ryūkōsai’s books and color prints of Osaka actors are relatively rare today, as they were printed in much smaller editions than Edo prints and were mainly circulated locally (Hillier 1980, p. 125). His illustrations were the basis for an 1818 publication titled Hyōsui kiga, which had areas of the blocks cut out, inlaid, and recarved with figure designs by Hokusai. The preface notes that the designs feature two master artists from Osaka and Edo.

This book of reworked illustrations was published as a single volume under the new title Ehon ryōhitsu, with additional alterations of poems and more illustrations adapted from Gekijo gashi. It is considered to have followed Hokusai’s illustrated book Hyōsui kiga, published in 1818, and identifies Hokusai as Taito, a name that he passed on to his pupil Hokusen in 1819. The example in the Pulverer collection is uncolored, while other examples are described as color printed. Hillier notes that the book was reprinted more than once and exists in variant versions.

Selected reading:

Jack Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration (London: Sotheby Parke-Bernet Publications; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), pp. 120–31.

Copies in other collections:

British Library, London

National Institute of Japanese Literature

Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (1-4442, Leiden)