Choju ryakugashiki – Kuwagata Keisai
Chōjū ryakugashiki (“Abbreviated Drawing Styles for Birds and Animals”) by Kuwagata Keisai (also known as Kitao Masayoshi) / a cute 46-page Japanese-style miniature book (hand-bound), 3.25 x 4.5 inches, illustrated in color / a popular and influential Edo-era book
Highly recommended!
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About the artist: “A pupil of Kitao Shigemasa, and later Kano Yosen’in Korenobu, Masayoshi worked as an ukiyoe artist under the name Kitao Masayoshi. He then became official painter to the daimyo of Tsuyama and worked in the Kano style using the name Kuwagata Keisai… He was a pioneer of a new style of drawing manual called ryakugashiki, which marked an important point in the development of this style of illustration and he strove, in his work, to simplify forms and capture the spirit of the animals he was depicting.” (via)
About the publisher: Unsodo was founded in Kyoto in 1891 as an art book publisher. They are the only company in Japan to publish handrail woodblock books.
