[絵本] 〔１４〕由良の湊千間長者下

永島福太郎編, 孟斎芳虎画 · 1880 · 堤吉兵衛 · 16 pictures

A Meiji-era Japanese picture book (ehon) published in 1880 by Tsutsumi Kichibei, with text compiled by Nagashima Fukutaro and illustrations by Hōsai Yoshitora, telling a folktale of the Yura harbour millionaire for a popular readership. The woodblock pages show a kneeling courtier before misty mountains, a warrior in patterned armour striking at a figure on a wooden stage, a robed monk beside a black lacquered chest in a rocky landscape, and a veiled figure rising on a cloud beside a lattice screen and a feast table, with dense columns of kana text. A designer could take the bold black-and-white line work, the patterned kimono and armour textures, and the economical rendering of mist, rock and cloud.

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