Illustrated Journal of Japanese History no. 1-10 (Nihon Rekishi Gaho) : [volume 4]

Matsumoto, Fūko, 1840-1923 · 1892 · Tokyo : Ōkura Yasugorō 大倉保五郎 : Ōkura Shoten 大倉書店 · 2 pictures

This is a Meiji-era woodblock-printed illustrated history journal published in Tokyo in 1892 by Ōkura Shoten, issued in numbered parts for a general readership and credited to Matsumoto Fūko. The double-page spread shows a bow-and-arrow archer in a blue and yellow robe shooting from among bamboo stalks, with arrows scattered across the grass and a pine tree and distant figures on the left page, drawn in fine, delicate line with pale washes of blue, green and ochre. A designer could take its sparse composition, open negative space and restrained tonal palette as a model for historical scenes that suggest action with few lines.

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