[絵本] 〔２〕宮本武蔵一代記上

綱島亀吉編 · 1881 · 島鮮堂 · 18 pictures

A Meiji-era Japanese illustrated picture book (ehon) compiled by Kamekichi Tsunashima and published by Tōsendō in 1881, telling the early life of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi for a popular readership. Its woodblock pages show a figure in dark robes and a broad-brimmed hat beside a pagoda-shaped lantern, a seated man at a low table, a standing warrior in patterned kimono pressing down on fallen opponents, and crowded fight scenes with samurai in striped hakama. A designer might take the bold black-and-white inked silhouettes, the dense vertical calligraphy panels and the dynamic diagonal poses of combat.

Japanese picture books (ehon)

National Diet Library, Japan (国立国会図書館) · Public Domain Mark (PDM), National Diet Library · More from this library