Utagawa Kunisada Kamigata Koi Shugyo, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Volumes One and Two
Utagawa Kunisada Kamigata Koi Shugyo, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Volumes One and Two
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- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
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A guide for this piece: about $199, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
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- Ornate 8 of 10 ·
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| Figure | cm | in |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 15.5 cm | 6.1 in |
| Height | 22.5 cm | 8.9 in |
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
Ghosts in the Pleasure Quarter
Kunisada sends his readers on a tour of love in Kyoto and Osaka and fills the road with incident: a pale ghost drifts above a brawl beneath the pines, spectators crowd a theatre box, divers fight the surf and a giant toad rears under cherry blossom. The ghost plate is the one collectors know best.
Best for: Collectors of Kunisada and the Utagawa school enpon
Condition notes
Worm damage throughout both volumes. Covers worn at the edges. Small coins appear on several plates in the photographs, placed for discretion; they are not part of the book.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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Kamigata Koi Shugyo, a course of training in love in Kyoto and Osaka: two volumes of the celebrated enpon by Utagawa Kunisada, with its famous ghost plate.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
Kamigata was the name Edo gave to Kyoto and Osaka, the old capital and the merchant city, and shugyo is the word for a course of discipline or training. Kunisada's enpon follows a man of the world through the pleasure quarters of the west, and turns the journey into a sequence of adventures as much as amorous scenes.
The plates are by Utagawa Kunisada (1786 to 1865), later Toyokuni III, the most prolific designer of the Utagawa school. A pale ghost drifts above a brawl beneath the pines, the image for which the book is best known; spectators crowd a theatre box; divers wrestle in breaking surf; a giant toad rears under cherry blossom. Between them come lovers in richly patterned robes, a plum in a blue and white pot on the frontispiece, and the comic misadventures of warai-e, the laughing picture.
The set offered here comprises the first and second volumes, in green covers with striped title slips.
Details
- Title: Kamigata Koi Shugyo, volumes one and two
- Artist: Utagawa Kunisada, as attributed
- Genre: Enpon (shunga picture book)
- Technique: Woodblock printing on Japanese paper
- Format: Hanshibon (half-sheet format), stab-bound
- Cover size: About 22.5 x 15.5 cm (8.9 x 6.1 in)
- Covers: Green paper covers with striped title slips
- Volumes: 2 (the first and second)
- Made in: Japan
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 0.5 cm (0.2 in).
Condition
- Worm damage throughout both volumes.
- Covers worn at the edges.
- Small coins were laid over details of several plates for discretion when the book was photographed; they are not part of the work.
Condition grade C (good) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Offered as Kunisada's Kamigata Koi Shugyo; the date of this printing is not recorded, and the attribution is given as recorded for the book and is not independently certified. Store flat, away from sun and damp.
Delivery from Japan
The two volumes are wrapped flat in acid-free tissue between rigid boards and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Further pieces of the kind are kept in Shunga and Hidden Arts and in our archive of woodblock prints and classical texts.
Concierge
Looking for the third volume, or another Kunisada title? Our Hunting Salon™ locates it across Japan's private collector circles, then inspects, documents and delivers it to you. Begin a Hunting Salon™ request.
Collectors also search: Kunisada shunga book · Kamigata Koi Shugyo ghost · Utagawa school erotic picture book
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