Utagawa Kuniyoshi Shunshoku Irifune-cho, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Complete Three Volumes
Utagawa Kuniyoshi Shunshoku Irifune-cho, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Complete Three Volumes
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $392, 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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- Character
- Resplendent 8.5 of 10 ·
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- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
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.
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Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
Kuniyoshi's Cats Come Calling
Kuniyoshi brings his comic eye and his beloved cats to a private picture book. Seventeen spreads move from a crowded veranda to intimate rooms full of pattern and porcelain. Complete three-volume sets of this title are uncommon.
Best for: Collectors of shunga, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and Edo woodblock books
Condition notes
Wear, soiling and handling to covers and pages; an ink mark on one face; illustrations clear and well coloured overall. The opening image folds out.
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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Shunshoku Irifune-cho, an Edo period shunga book in three volumes, illustrated by Utagawa Kuniyoshi with seventeen double-page colour woodblock scenes, offered as a complete set.
The Piece
Kuniyoshi is remembered for warriors, monsters and cats, and this enpon brings his wit to the private genre. The text is credited under a playful pen name to Ryutei Tanehiko, the most celebrated popular novelist of the day, with a preface signed Kujiritei Sanehiko and the Kintokudo imprint. Read together, the volumes unfold like a comic novel: a crowded veranda of women carrying dishes, a lone figure on a jetty at dusk, a street before a shop front, and then the intimate scenes, each set in a richly furnished room.
The printing is generous with colour and pattern, from blue and white porcelain to scarlet bedding and checked robes, and two scenes include cats, one asleep on a chest of drawers, one striped and watchful beside a plum tree, Kuniyoshi's signature touch. Complete sets of all three volumes are seldom found together.
Details
- Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi
- Text: Credited under a pen name to Ryutei Tanehiko; preface by Kujiritei Sanehiko
- Imprint: Kintokudo
- Period: Edo period
- Format: Woodblock printed book, three volumes, stitched Japanese binding
- Illustrations: Seventeen double-page colour spreads, the first a folding image
- Cover size: About 22 x 15.5 cm (8.7 x 6.1 in)
- Covers: Original covers; title slips worn
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 cm (0.4 in).
Condition
- Wear, soiling and handling to covers and pages, as expected of a book of this age.
- The opening spread is part of a folding image that continues to either side.
- An ink mark touches a woman's face on the second spread.
Condition grade C (good, visible wear) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Attribution, title and period are as presented to the Desk; no independent appraisal is implied. Keep the volumes flat, away from light and damp.
Delivery from Japan
Packed flat by hand in Japan in a rigid carton and shipped discreetly, 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. More awaits in The Private Room and in our essay on shunga.
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