Goitsu gafu五逸画譜

FSC-GR-780.289

Commentary by Ellis Tinios

Posted August 1, 2017

At an unknown date, the printing blocks for Kawamura Kihō’s Kafuku ninpitsu (FSC-GR-780.288) passed from Yoshidaya Shinbē (Buneidō 文衛堂) to another Kyoto publisher, Kawachiya Tōshirō (Bunrindō文林堂). (For a commentary on the visual contents of this book, see Kafuku ninpitsu).The latter reprinted the book with the following modifications: (1) the title was changed to Goitsu gafu (Goitsu’s album of paintings), Goitsu being Kihō’s formal name ( azana 字); (2) the four-page preface by Kamo no Suetaka 加茂季鷹 (1752–1842)was omitted; (3) the original title, Kafuku ninpitsu,was excised from each of the printing blocks leaving the ‘pillar’ (hashira 柱) blank; (4) a printed title-sheet was added to the inside front cover(see below); and (5) a new colophon was placed on the inside back cover (see below). The prefatory page listing the relationships of the five elements in archaic seal script, the postscript by Kihō, and the visual content of the book all remained unchanged.

The title sheet records the new title of the book, Goitsu gafu, in large, bold characters. This is preceded by the words “quick instruction for beginners” (shogaku hayageiko 初学早稽古). This ‘surtitle’ recalls the blurb found in the lists of the original publisher, Yoshidaya Shinbē (Buneidō 文徴堂), in which Kafuku ninpitsu is described as a drawing manual for beginners (shoshin no yoki gatehon nari 初心のよき画手本なり). The title is followed by the studio names (dōgō 堂号) of the two principal publishers/distributors of this edition of the book: Gungyokudō 羣玉堂 (Kawachiya Mohē 河内屋茂兵衛) in Osaka and Bunrindō (Kawachiya Tōshirō 河内屋藤四朗) in Kyoto.

The new colophon does not carry a date. It simply lists the three bookshops (shoho 書舗) engaged in the production and distribution of this re-named edition of Kafuku ninpitsu. They are, reading from right to left: Kawachiya Mohē and Kawachiya Shinsuke 河内屋新助, both in Osaka (Naniwa shoho 浪花書舗); and Kawachiya Tōshirō in Kyoto (Kōto shoho 皇都書舗).

Printing blocks were Edo-period publishers’ most important capital asset, in contrast to the heavy investment in presses and type fonts required by contemporary publishers in the West. The purchase of printing blocks by one publisher from another was common. The circumstances of such sales varied. A publisher might sell blocks if he felt that they were of little further commercial value. However, in most instances, sales occurred when a publisher ceased to trade. Such is the case here. Yoshida Shinbē stopped trading sometime in the 1830s, and his extensive stock of printing blocks were acquired by other publishers.

Selected readings:

C. H. Mitchell, with the assistance of Osamu Ueda, The Illustrated Books of the Nanga, Maruyama, Shijo and Other Related Schools of Japan. A Biobibliography (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1972).

Copies in other collections:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York