“Shinsen Taikoki” (新撰太閤記) - Newly selected Records of the Taiko

Diptych Title page plus 31 Oban Diptychs (64 sheets in total) describing 27 scenes from the famous Samurai Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s life

Date : 1883
Size : Album (35 × 23.5cm)
Utagawa Toyonobu (歌川豊宣)1859-1886

Bound in a beautiful contemporary silk binding, with elaborate decoration of birds and geometric designs. With a contemporary wooden box. Impressive near fine condition with bright unfaded colours and only minor wear to the album cover.

Little is known about Toyonobu, who spent much of his life producing illustrations for Ehon and musha-e images. He is most famous for this series “Shinsen Taikoki” which illustrates the life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a famous Shogun who unified Japan during the Sengoku civil wars of the late 1500s. The mokuroku (table of contents) describes 50 episodes from his life, of which 27 are included in this beautiful album. Designs depict Hideoyshi’s childhood and battle scenes including the Battle of Anegawa and the Battle of Nagashino.

In a rapidly westernising Japan, the images of this series hark back to a traditional Japan, and are often romanticised. To produce the images, traditional Japanese techniques were combined with Western artistic influence, such as perspective, and bright western inks, which replaced the traditional vegetable based inks which were used previously. Prints in this period of the late 1800s were produced to a high production value with multiple colours, intricate shading (Bokashi), and texturing. This era was probably the height of Japanese technical printing.