Kōzan Kafu 高山花譜

1947. Takeda Hisayoshi 武田久吉, author & Funazaki Kōjirō 船崎光治郎, artist. Kōzan Kafu 高山花譜. Tokyo: Fugaku Honsha 富岳本社. Shōwa 22 昭和22 [1947]. 73 pages. Author and artist hanko are tipped-in to colophon. 28.5 x 20.5 cm, bound western-style (opens Japanese style) with a color, wrap-around woodblock-printed dust wrapper. In modern chitsu with clasps. Foreword by author and botanist Takeda Hisayoshi 武田久吉 (1883-1972) and afterword by artist Funazaki Kōjirō 船崎光治郎. Index with guide to plates with plant names in Latin and Japanese. The 33 laid-down color woodcut prints of mountain flowers by Funazaki enhance the text and its black and white halftones. They are in a sōsaku hanga 創作版画 (Creative Print Movement) style and are quite beautiful. It is obvious that this work was more than a botanical guide with its large format and lovely prints.

It is remarkable that works like this were being published in 1946-7 in Japan, considering the extreme shortages, particularly of paper of any kind, never mind the high quality paper used in these publications. Fugaku Honsha 富岳本社, the Fugaku publishing company, was the same one which published Onchi Kōshirō's 恩地孝四郎 Shinshō Fuji 新頌富士 and its office was right next to Onchi's home.

Very scarce and interesting.