1786 Japanese Kyoto Travel Guide Edo JAPAN Woodblock Print Miyako Illustrated
An exceedingly rare, 18th century set of handwritten woodblock prints of scenic tourist areas in Edo during the mid to late Edo period bound in the "fukurotoji (variously translated as "bound-pocket," or "pouch" binding)" style (Keio). This travel guide was authored by Akisato Ritō with multiple illustrators and is titled 'Miyako Meisho Zue' (Pictorial guide to scenic spots in Kyoto). The work is a collection of shrines, temples, and historical sites in and around Kyoto with simple sentences and illustrations such as birds-eye views and custom drawings of scenery. It was published in response to the popularization of travel.
Consumers of meisho zue did not use them as travel guidebooks, but rather as stimulants to engage in a premodern mode of virtual travel, by which they enjoyed vicarious experiences of place without the attendant corporeal and economic drawbacks of physical travel. Such book-based experiences of geography were essential to the considerable commercial success of Miyako meisho zue because they satisfied a desire for leisurely accumulation of geographical fluency among a truly diverse readership, which ranged from samurai to commoners, townspeople to villagers, old to young, and men to women.3 Shunchōsai's depiction of the Fourth Avenue Riverbed was meant to transport the reader to this place, not actually but virtually (Goree).
"Kyoto Famous Places" was published in Kyoto in "Famous Places of the City", which is a part of the "Famous Places of Japan" series that begins with a picture and introduces famous places of Kinki Region of Japan with pictures. In addition to historical sites, it provides easy-to-understand explanations of festivals, customs, and special products, combined with detailed and realistic illustrations based on local interviews.
This rare, 1786 travel guide of woodblock prints contains 30 double- and 8 single-page illustrations including temple scenes, samurai cutting bamboo, city, and mountain views, and more!
Item number: #13121
Price: $599
RITO, Akisato
An Illustrated Guide to the noted places of Kyoto (都名所圖會) Akisato Ritō's Miyako meisho zue
Kyōto: Takehara Sanada Yukimura, Tenmei 6 [1786].
Details:
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Collation: Complete;
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References:
o Kazuko Hioki; Characteristics of Japanese Block Printed Books in the Edo Period: 1603 – 1867.
o Robert Goree; Meisho Zue and the Mapping of Prosperity in Late Tokugawa Japan
o Keio University, Japanese Culture Through Rare Books
o Kansai University in 2015 (Naniwa Osaka Research) [Research representative: Yoichi Hase].
o Iwanami, Kokusho So Mokuroku 59778;
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Language: Japanese
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Binding: Softcover; tight & secure
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Size: ~11in X 7.5in (28cm x 19cm)
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13121
Photos available upon request.
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