Ehon azuma karage 絵本吾妻抉

FSC-GR 780.360

Commentary by Asano Shūgō

Posted December 3, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

This picture-book, printed in monochrome, consists of three separate volumes bound together. Volume 1 contains an introduction of one-and-a-half pages, seven double-page illustrations, and one single-page image. Volume 2 contains seven double-page illustrations bookended by two single-page illustrations. Volume 3 begins with a single-page illustration, continues with seven double-page illustrations, another single-page image and a single-page with advertisements and publication information that are pasted onto the inside back cover.

The introduction states that Karamaru 唐丸 (Tsutaya Jūzaburō 蔦屋重三郎, 1750–1797) asked Kitao Kazuuji 北尾一氏 (Kitao Shigemasa 北尾重政) to design illustrations of famous places (meisho 名所) in Edo, and kyōka verses by several poets were chosen to accompany these pictures. If this is true, it means that Tsutaya Jūzaburō is the compiler/editor of this work. Although this picture-book consists of kyōka poems paired with illustrations of annual events at various celebrated sites in and around Edo, the ordering of the seasons is not strict or precise. There are no artist signatures; however, we know from the introduction and other considerations that the illustrations are clearly by Kitao Shigemasa. Although three separate volumes are bound into one, it is noteworthy that a wrapper is attached to the inside cover.

Ehon zzuma karage was issued eleven years after Shigemasa’s Ehon yotsu no toki (FSC-GR 780.349.1-3), and during this period that fashions changed as did the artist’s style. The fact that this is an illustrated book of kyōka, and not haiku, perhaps speaks to the ascendancy of the kyōka genre at the time. It is unusual and rare that a kagemachaya 陰間茶屋 (tea-house catering to male prostitution) in Yoshi-chō is depicted in volume 1. Moreover, it has been pointed out that Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿 referenced this work when designing his Ehon kotoba no hana (FSC-GR-780.320.1-2), Ehon Azuma asobi 絵本吾妻遊 (1790), and Ehon Suruga mai 絵本駿河舞 (1790). The Hangi sōmokuroku kabuchō 板木総目録株帳 (Business register index of printing blocks) confirms that the publishing rights for the woodblocks of this work, together with the printing blocks, were later transferred to the Osaka publishers Izumiya Genshichi (和泉屋源七), Akashiya Ihachi (明石屋伊八), and Kyōya Asajirō (京屋浅次郎).

書名　絵本吾妻抉

執筆者浅野秀剛

墨摺絵本三巻合一冊。上巻九丁、中巻八丁、下巻八丁半。上巻、序一丁半、見開き図七、半丁図一、中巻、半丁図一、見開き図七、半丁図一、下巻、半丁図一、見開き図七、半丁図一、広告・刊記半丁（裏表紙見返しに貼付）。序文に、唐丸（蔦屋重三郎）が北尾の一氏（重政）に江戸名所の図を依頼し、それに諸家の狂歌を添えたとあるので、それに従えば蔦屋重三郎の編ということになる。江戸の各所の年中行事の図に、狂歌を添えた絵本であるが、季節の前後は厳密ではない。絵師の記名はないが、序文などによって、北尾重政であることは明らか。本書は三巻三冊を一冊に合わせ綴じたものであるが、見返しに、袋を添付しているのが特筆される。重政の江戸の四季風俗絵本としては、『絵本よつのとき』の11年後に刊行したものであり、その間の風俗流行の変遷とともに重政の様式の変遷も見ることができる。それが俳諧絵本ではなく、狂歌絵本であるというところに当時の狂歌の隆盛を見ることができるかもしれない。上巻に芳町の陰間茶屋が描かれているのが珍しい。また、喜多川歌麿が、本書を参考にして『絵本詞の花』（1787年）、『絵本吾妻遊』（1790年）『絵本駿河舞』（同）を制作していることが指摘されている。本書の版株は後に大坂の和泉屋源七、同、明石屋伊八、同、京屋浅次郎と板木が移動していることが、『板木総目録株帳』によって確かめられる。

Selected readings:

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

Suzuki Jūzō 鈴木重三, “Utamaro ehon no bunseki teki kōsatsu” 「歌麿絵本の分析的考察」, originally published in Ukiyo-e geijutsu 7 『浮世絵芸術7』(1964) and later in Ehon to ukiyo-e 『絵本と浮世絵』(Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1979).

Copies in other collections:

British Museum, London

Hōsa Library, Nagoya
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston