Ehon miyama shika 絵本深山鹿

FSC-GR 780.841.1-3

Commentary by Asano Shūgō

Posted December 3, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The three volumes of Ehon miyama shika are printed in monochrome. Volume 1 opens with a single page, followed by sixteen double-page openings. Volume 2 has fifteen double-page openings bookended by two single-page illustrations, and a final single-page advertisement. The structure of volume 3 is similar except that it concludes with a single pages containing the postscript and publication information.

The Kyoto-based ukiyo-e artist Ōmori Yoshikiyo (大森善清) published at least twenty-six types of picture-book albums in the late Genroku era (1688–1704). Many modified versions of these continued publication until the nineteenth century, but unfortunately only a portion of these are still extant. [1] Most first printings of Yoshikiyo’s picture-books have borders decorated with the shapes of Chinese-style fans. The four edges around the images in this book are blank, indicating that these areas were initially surrounded by a Chinese-style fan border. The first and last images in volumes 2 and 3 connect from left to right, thereby implying that the first printing of these were album-style books having borders with Chinese fan shapes—that is, picture-books by Ōmori Yoshikiyo.

It can be conjectured that the first printing of Ehon miyama shika comprised two albums devoted to birds entitled Momochidori 百千鳥 (vol. 1), three albums to fauna entitled Miyama shika 深山鹿 (vol. 2), and two albums to flora entitled Hanaguruma 花車 (vol. 3). Although the first printing for each of these has yet to be confirmed, three of the illustrations from a fragment of Momochidori can be verified as a match. Of the three types of illustrations (birds, fauna, flora) that compose the original printing, it can be thought that all of Momochidori and Hanaguruma, as well as two-thirds of Miyamashika, were included in this book.

The colophon records the publication date as the fifth month of 1718 (Kyōhō 3), but it is thought that this date was taken from the colophon of the picture-book Ehon seishochō (絵本清書帳). The exact date when the publisher Kashiwabaraya Seiemon acquired ownership of the printing blocks and published this later modified version is not known. However, it would have been sometime during the Kyōhō era (1716–1736). The advertisement on the inside back cover of volume 2 of the Pulverer copy makes clear that this example was produced and published after 1755 (Hōreki 5) and before 1812 (Bunka 9).

Ōmori Yoshikiyo was the first artist to publish in earnest picture-books in the Kamigata (Kyoto/Osaka) region. Even though this book is a later modified version, it is valuable as it enables us to understand the appearance of most of the illustrations in the three types of books (the first printings) by Yoshikiyo that no longer survive. Moreover, it provides a hint at the conditions surrounding the circulation of Yoshikiyo’s picture-books. The scholar Suzuki Jun believes that the Musée Guimet in Paris contains two copies of the ōhon (c. 26 x 18 cm) book Shasei jūga zu 写生獣画図 (2 vols.) that relates to the current text.

書名　　　絵本深山鹿
執筆者浅野秀剛

墨摺絵本三冊。各巻十六丁半。上巻、扉半丁、見開き図十六、中巻、半丁図一、見開き図十五、半丁図一、広告半丁、下巻、半丁図一、見開き図十五、半丁図一、跋・刊記半丁。京都の絵師、大森善清は、元禄後期に少なくとも26種の帖装の絵本を刊行し、その後修本（初版の版木に部分的に手を加えたり、再編集したりした本。改刻後摺本）の多くも19世紀まで刊行され続けたが、残念ながらそれらの一部しか現存しない。善清絵本の初印本のほとんどは唐団扇形枠を有している。本書は、図のすべてが当初は唐団扇形枠を有していたことを示すように四隅が白くなっており、中、下巻の最初の半丁図と最後の半丁図が左右に続くなど、初印本が唐団扇形枠を持つ帖装本、すなわち大森善清の絵本と推定できる。本書の初印本は、上巻が鳥尽しの絵本『百千鳥』二帖、中巻が獣物尽しの絵本『深山鹿』三帖、下巻が草花を描いた『花車』二帖と推定できる。いずれの初印本も未確認であるが、『百千鳥』のなかの零葉は3図確認できる。三種の初印本のうち、本書に収載できたのは『百千鳥』と『花車』の全図と『深山鹿』の三分の二と推定される。本書には享保3年（1718）5月の刊記が備わるが、これは『絵本清書帳』の刊記を流用したものと推定される。版元・柏原屋清右衛門が版木株を取得してこの後修本を刊行した時期は不明であるが、おそらく享保期であろう。この伝本についてだけいえば、実際に制作刊行されたのは、中巻裏表紙見返しにある広告などから、宝暦5年（1755）以降、文化9年（1812）以前である。大森善清は、上方において本格的に絵本を刊行した最初の絵師である。本書は、後修本ではあるが、伝存しない善清の三種の初印本の過半の図様を知りえるものとして、また、善清絵本の普及の状況を示すものとして意義深いものといえるであろう。ギメ美術館に、本書に関係する『写生獣画図』大本二冊を二部所蔵しているという（鈴木淳氏ご示教）。

Selected readings:

Asano Shūgō 浅野秀剛, “Kyō no eshi, Ōmori Yoshikiyo”「京の絵師、大森善清」, in Hishikawa Moronobu to ukiyo-e no reimei 『菱川師宣と浮世絵の黎明』(Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2008).

Asano Shūgō 浅野秀剛, “Ōmori Yoshikiyo ehon no kōshūbon”「大森善清絵本の後修本」, in Ukiyo-e geijutsu 162 『浮世絵芸術162』(2011).

Copies in other collections:

Tōhoku University, Sendai

[1] These books included re-edited versions, those for which the printing blocks of the first printing were partially modified, or later printings from re-carved blocks.