Two <i>ehon</i> covers [<i>e-byoshi</i> - 絵表紙] from the <i>Hokusetsu bidan jidai kagami</i> ('Uplifting Tale of Northern Snows' Mirror of the Ages -北雪美談時代加々見)
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Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)

Two ehon covers [e-byoshi - 絵表紙] from the Hokusetsu bidan jidai kagami ('Uplifting Tale of Northern Snows' Mirror of the Ages -北雪美談時代加々見)

Print

ca 1855
9.25 in x 7 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock prints
Waseda University - look at #s 77 and 89
Noda Library 23-24
Waseda University - right panel enlargement
Waseda University - left panel enlargement Two beautifully clothed courtesans dress a young boy by a lake house.

The publisher is Wakasaya Yoichi (Marks 573). The original story was written by Tamenaga Shunsui II (為永春水: 1818-86) and published between 1855-83. According to Pedro Bassoe's 2018 doctoral thesis at the University of California at Berkeley, Izumi Kyōka collected all 44 volumes of The Uplifting Tale of Northern Snows: Mirror of the Ages, which are now deposited in near pristine condition in Keiō University.

Dr. Bassoe pointed out in footnote 65 that: "Kyōka’s collection of The Eight Lives of Siddhartha contains fifty-four of fifty-eight volumes (1-38 and 41-56). As Hinotani, Suzuki, and Matsumura point out in “Izumi Kyōka zōsho mokuroku,” most of Kyōka’s library was lost in the firebombings of Tokyo during WWII. Fortuitously, his collection of kusazōshi managed to escape destruction, as it was being housed separately from the rest of his library, along with his other personal belongings. Around five-hundred and thirty volumes were preserved in a specially made kusazōshi bookshelf with a painted cover. It is possible that the missing volumes became separated from the collection during Kyōka’s lifetime, or during one of various relocations."

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There is a bit of somewhat contradictory information about the authorship of these volumes on page 222 in James King's Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900: "Wakasaya was also engaged in publishing illustrated books. In 1855, he started to produce the first volumes of the serial novel. “Northern Snows, a Gorgeous Tale and Mirror of Our Times” (Hokusetsu bidan jidai kagami), his most successful publication. Written by Tamenaga Shunshō (1822–1886), it was first illustrated by Kunisada, then by then by Kunisada II and Ginkō, the last volume appeared in 1882."

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Andrew Lawrence Markus wrote in footnote #104 in The Willow in Autumn: Ryūtei Tanehiko, 1783-1842 that "Among the lavish late Edo and early Meiji serial gōkan bestsellers partially inspired by the success of Inaka Genji figure Jiraiya gōketsu monogatari (Tale of Jiraiya the hero, 1839-1868?), Shiranui monogatari (The tale of Shiranui, 1849-1883?), [Hokusetsu bidan] Jidai kagami (Uplifting tale of northern snows: Mirror of the ages; 1855-1883)..."
picture book (ehon - 絵本) (genre)
Wakasaya Yoichi (若狹屋与市) (publisher)
Tamenaga Shunsui I and II (為永春水) (author)