Maggs Bros. Ltd.

A superb colour woodblock production of a popular subject: the one hundred poems by one hundred poets, known as the hyakunin isshu. Each poet is illustrated in great detail wearing clothing that would have been contemporary to their time.

It is believed that the hyakkunin isshu was first compiled by the nobleman and poet Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241), who drew from his extensive knowledge of poetry from the late Heian to early Kamakura periods. Initially it was known as the Ogura no hyakunin isshu, based upon Teika's dwellings near Mt. Ogura in Kyoto. A highly influential work, this compilation was republished several times and during the Edo period was turned into a karuta card game. This essentially works as a matching game of 'snap', where a player reads one poem and the others have to quickly find the corresponding card out of the 100. To this day the hyakunin isshu maintains its popularity in Japan, and the poems have become synonymous with the card game.

Usually the hyakkunin isshu poems and portraits are only seen on a small playing card-sized scale, and so it is unusual to find an early book of card designs that are this large. The present title was edited by Shibayama Motocho (1742-1815), a nobleman and poet, who was also a scholar of classical literature. It is a particularly lavish production where each poet has been illustrated by Tosa Mitsusada (1738-1806), a highly regarded painter of the Tosa school. The plates are finely printed in several layers of colour, allowing readers to appreciate the subtleties of Heian and Kamakura-period dress. Additionally, the present copy has been kept in a contemporary wooden box.

What is especially remarkable about this copy is that it has also preserved the original publisher's envelope. Online there are three digitised copies in Japanese institutions of this edition (Waseda, Tokyo University and the National Institute of Japanese Literature). However, none of these copies have a title page or similar pasted to the front endpaper. Upon inspection, what seems to have happened is that the original envelope was bound in (possibly when the book was restitched) and pasted to the front endpaper. This is made clear by the seam on the inside, as well as its decorative design.

Only 2 copies listed outside of Japan in OCLC (University of California LA + Berkeley). The Museum of Fine Art Boston also lists a copy on their database.