Utagawa Kunisada Omi Hakkei 1827, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Colour Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Three Volumes
Utagawa Kunisada Omi Hakkei 1827, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Colour Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Three Volumes
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Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $296, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
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- Ornate 8 of 10 ·
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| Figure | cm | in |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 15.5 cm | 6.1 in |
| Height | 22.0 cm | 8.7 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
Eight Views, Reimagined for Lovers
Kunisada borrows the most famous landscape series in Japan, the Eight Views of Omi, and turns each view into an encounter between lovers. Theatre, snow, lamplight and a robe printed with Western letters give the plates their wit and variety.
Best for: Collectors of Edo enpon and the Utagawa school
Condition notes
Three volumes with later replacement covers. One double-page plate is lacking from the middle volume. Slight worm damage in the upper volume and somewhat more in the lower; otherwise no marked damage or soiling.
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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An enpon of 1827 by Utagawa Kunisada in three volumes, whose title turns the Eight Views of Omi into eight pledges between lovers.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
Omi Hakkei was published in Bunsei 10 (1827), the year recorded in its printed colophon. The title is a pun: spoken aloud it is the Eight Views of Omi, the most celebrated landscape theme in Japanese art, but its characters speak of meetings and pledges. That doubling of the famous and the private is the very spirit of warai-e, the laughing picture.
Kunisada (1786 to 1865), the most prolific designer of the Utagawa school, fills the book with colour. The upper volume holds five double-page plates and two single-page plates, the middle and lower volumes three double-page plates each. A banquet with a shaven-headed attendant, snow seen from a brazier, a woman reading by lamplight and a robe printed with Western letters show how far his eye roamed. The middle volume also carries a mock physiognomy chart in the manner of the popular fortune guides, one of the book's wittiest pages.
The three volumes are labelled flower, moon and snow on their title slips, the classical trio of seasonal beauty.
Details
- Title: Omi Hakkei, in three volumes
- Artist: Utagawa Kunisada, as attributed
- Published: Bunsei 10 (1827), Edo period
- Genre: Enpon (shunga picture book) with warai-e humour
- Technique: Colour woodblock printing on Japanese paper
- Plates: Thirteen in colour; one double-page plate lacking from the middle volume
- Format: Hanshibon, stab-bound in the Japanese manner
- Cover size: About 22 x 15.5 cm (8.7 x 6.1 in)
- Covers: Later replacement covers with title slips
- Made in: Japan
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 0.5 cm (0.2 in).
Condition
- One double-page plate is lacking from the middle volume.
- Slight worm damage in the upper volume, somewhat more in the lower.
- Covers are later replacements; leaves toned with age.
- A small coin seen on one plate was placed only for photography and is not part of the book.
Condition grade C (good) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Offered as the Edo-period edition of 1827 with plates by Utagawa Kunisada; date and attribution are given as recorded for the book and are not independently certified. Store flat, away from sun and damp.
Delivery from Japan
The 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.
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Collectors also search: Kunisada Omi Hakkei enpon · Edo shunga book in three volumes · Utagawa school warai-e 1827
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