Ranpu to onna [Lamps and Women]

KAWAKAMI (Sumio).

Natural and man-made beauty, admired together

First edition, no.19 of 50 copies, signed. Printed entirely in woodblock, each plate hand coloured. Measuring 152 by 130mm. Fukuro-toji binding, original red paper wrappers with hand-coloured woodblock print pasted to upper, black gloss paper folding card case printed in woodblock with metallic ink, housed in a batik textile covered chitsu folding case with title slip in holograph, a fine copy. Unpaginated [34]pp. Tochigi, privately printed, Showa 40 [i.e, 1965.

£2,500

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KAWAKAMI (Sumio).

Ranpu to onna [Lamps and Women]

A beautiful copy of this intimate little book.

For Kawakami, lamps were a theme that he continued to return to in his books. They symbolised the sense of enlightenment that came with the opening of Japan in the Meiji period (1868-1912), when there was a great influx of cultural and technological influence from the West. He was also fascinated by the earlier period of nanban 'southern barbarians' (but essentially Western traders) who travelled to Japan in the 17th century and brought with them unusual goods.

While there is no narrative text in the present book, each page shows a woman stood next to a lamp, perhaps a symbol of natural and man-made beauty paired together. The present book touches upon Kawakami's fascination with early Western interactions with Japan history, and one plate depicts a Western (possibly Dutch) woman next to a lamp.

Extremely rare. No copies in OCLC.

Stock No.

261011

Ranpu to onna [Lamps and Women]

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