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Sumō torikumi zue / Tachikawa Emba sen; Utagawa Kunisada ga

Tachikawa, Emba立川焉馬 · 1849 · Edo : Honya Matasuke (Chōnodo) · 14 pictures

A Japanese woodblock picture book from 1849, published in Edo by Honya Matasuke, with text by Tachikawa Emba and illustrations by Utagawa Kunisada, showing sumo wrestling techniques for a general readership. Its pages are laid out as paired spreads with several small wrestlers per page, each grappling pose set beside columns of text. A designer might take the energetic, tangled figure groupings and the economical ink line that conveys mass, motion and body weight.

Utagawa, Kunisada, 1786-1864 · Sumo

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library