Shoshoku ekagami 諸職画鑑
FSC-GR-780.339

Commentary by Hinohara Kenji

Posted March 20, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The illustrated book Shoshoku ekagami (Illustrated mirror of various occupations) was released in 1794, a year before Kitao Masayoshi’s most representative work, Ryakuga shiki (FSC-GR-780.335). The publisher Suharaya Ichibē (Shinshōdō 申椒堂) writes in his remarks at the beginning of the volume that until this time illustrated books reproduced images of famous works and were therefore not suited for everyday use. This is why he produced this book for artisans of assorted trades who employ pictures in their work and for people who have a passion for drawing.

There is no particular order in the arrangement of the illustrations by Masayoshi (also known as Kuwagata Keisai); they cover an array of subjects, ranging from common people going about their daily lives to familiar themes from painting and history. These include the spirit of the statesman-scholar Sugawara Michizane (845–903); Shōki the demon queller, the noh play Takasago, the folk hero Kintarō, warriors, children dressed in ancient Chinese-style robes (karako), animals, Ōtsu-e pictures, Chinese lions (shishi), elephants, Daoist and Buddhist figures, the Seven Deities of Good Fortune (Shichifukujin), dragons, birds, flora, and other motifs. Like Masayoshi’s Ryakuga shiki, the selection of subjects is diverse and wide-ranging; however, many of the images are rendered in a Kano school style. It has been suggested that Katsushika Hokusai referenced Shoshoku ekagami when designing the first printing of his celebrated Hokusai manga (SC-GR-780.233.1-14).[1]

The preface records the title with the characters 諸職画鏡, but the title slip on the cover of this copy uses the slightly variant characters 諸職画鑑. The history of this book is further complicated because the publication date listed in the colophon is the twelfth month of Kansei 6 (1794), whereas the preface is dated to the early spring of Kansei 7 (1795). Moreover, the Kyōho ikō Edo shuppan shomoku 享保以降江戸出版書目 (Publisher catalog from the Kyōho era onward) places the actual publication date as the twenty-third day of the second month of 1795. [2] However, the publication date listed in the colophon—the twelfth month of 1794—can be understood as the intended date for the release of this work.

The Pulverer copy is a first printing but the folio corresponding to the fifteenth double-page illustration is missing. The colophon includes advertisements for publications, including Shoshoku ekagami. A later printing of Shoshoku ekagami in the Pulverer Collection (FSC-GR-780.340) includes the missing opening that depicts children dressed in Chinese-style robes engaged in the “Four Accomplishments” (kin-ki-sho-ga琴碁書畫); it also has an added title page and was released by a different publisher, Kawachiya Kihē (Sekigyokuho積玉圃).

書名諸職画鑑

執筆者日野原健司

政美の代表作となる『略画式』の先蹤例となる絵本。版元である須原屋市兵衛が記した巻頭の凡例によれば、これまでの絵本は名画の写しであり、日常使うものとしては適さないため、絵を用いるさまざまな職人や絵心のある人のためにこの絵本を制作したことが述べられている。さまざまな職業や生活する庶民の姿、天神、鍾馗、高砂、金太郎、武者、猩々、唐子、動物、大津絵、獅子、象、道釈人物、七福神、龍、鳥、草花など、さまざまなモチーフが頁の中に無秩序に散りばめられている。『略画式』と同様、あらゆるジャンルを描いた幅広いものであるが、その描法は狩野派風のものが多い。この『諸職画鑑』を葛飾北斎が『北斎漫画』初編を制作するにあたって参考にしていたことが指摘されている。［1］

なお、題名は序文中に「諸職画鏡」とあるが、ここでは外題簽にある「諸職画鑑」をとることとする。また、序文は寛政7年初春だが奥付は寛政6年12月という混乱があり、さらに『享保以降江戸出版書目』［2］によれば実際の刊行は寛政7年2月23日であった。ここでは奥付の刊記を刊行年とみなし、寛政6年12月としておく。また、FSC-GR-780.339は初版本であるが、p.29とp.30の間に見開き１丁分の落丁あり。奥付には『諸職画鑑』を含む出版広告がある。FSC-GR-780.340は後摺本で、表紙裏に内題が付され、版元も変更されている。

Selected readings:

Asakura Haruhiko and Ōwa Hiroyuki 朝倉治彦・大和博幸編, Kyōho ikō Edo shuppan shomoku 『享保以降江戸出版書目』(Kyoto: Rinsen, 1994).

Fukuoka University Library 福岡大学図書館, “Keisai・Shūho sakuhingun to kyōdo haikai no sekai. Wahon no bi”『蕙斎・秋圃作品群と郷土俳書の世界和本の美』, 2003.

Naitō Masato 内藤正人, “Hokusai manga no kenkyū—toku ni sono shohen o chūshin ni”「『北斎漫画』の研究―とくにその初編を中心に―」, Kagoshima Bijutsu Zaidan kenkyū hōkoku10 (supplemental volume) 『鹿島美術財団研究報告』年報第10号別冊(1993), 96–111.

Naitō Masato 内藤正人, “Keisai・Kitao Masayoshi no ehon Shoshoku ekagami no shoshi” 「蕙斎・北尾政美の絵本『諸職画鑑』の書誌」,Idemitsu Bijutsukan kenkyū kiyō 7 『出光美術館研究紀要』第7号(July 1996), 143–235.

Nakada Katsunosuke仲田勝之助, Ehon no kenkyū 『絵本の研究』(Tokyo: Yashio Shoten, 1950).

Orii Takae 折井貴恵, “Jūhasseiki no edehon kan: Kuwagata Keisai (Kitao Masayoshi) o rei ni” 「十八世紀の絵手本観―鍬形蕙斎（北尾政美）を例に」, in Edo no shuppan bunka kara hajimatta imēji kakumei 『江戸の出版文化から始まったイメージ革命』, ed. Ōta Akiko 太田昌子 (Kanazawa: Kanazawa Geijutsugaku Kenkyūkai, 2007), 117–32.

Copies in other collections:
Fukuoka University Library
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
National Diet Library, Tokyo

National Institute of Japanese Literature, Tokyo

Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo

Tokyo University of the Arts, University Library

[1] Naitō 1993, 96–111.

[2] See Asakura and Ōwa 1994, 309.