Hokusai, Sharaku, Kiyonaga, Harunobu, Utamaro and Hiroshige. The complete 6 volume set

Tokyo: Seibundo, 1932. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Hokusai, Sharaku, Kiyonaga, Harunobu, Utamaro, Hiroshige. Bilingual, with detailed text in both Japanese and in English. Presumed first editions thus. Printed and bound in Japan. 10.25 x 7.75 inches. All volumes in three-quarter buckram, ivory-colored, and with the boards of each book in distinctive solid colors. Spines with fairly crisp gilt-stamped title against a blue blaze. Generally unbumped spine heads and tails, and with impressively sharp corners. Scarcely noticeable splotching to the green boards of Hokusai; else the six bindings are very clean. Text blocks firmly bound in. Decorative pastedowns and FEPs. Hokusai: J234, E42 pp., 180 zinc blocks, 7 heliochrome [color] and 74 phototype plates; Sharaku: J160, E49 pp., 8 h. and 105 ph. plates; Kiyonaga: J143, E23 pp., 10 h. and 100 ph. plates; Harunobu: J145, E57 pp., 8 h. and 94 ph. plates; Utamaro: J165, E22 pp., 8 h. and 101 ph. plates; Hiroshige: J135, E40 pp., 8 h. and 91 ph. plates. Most heliogravures with a tissue guard. The colors of the plates remain vibrant. Note that the title pages state: "With one oban colour-print supplement", presumably in reference to a print 10.7" x 15.6" in a folder accompanying each book. No such obans are present. Scant evidence of age toning to the pages. No stains, stampings or underlining noticed. A Very Good Plus to Near Fine set. Rarely encountered as a complete set of 6 vols. and very scarce in prime condition. 17 lbs. 10 oz. total weight. "Yonejiro Noguchi (1875-1947), known in the West as Yone Noguchi, was an influential writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the only Japanese author who published original literary works in English, and he gained a strong reputation in Western cultural society before the Second World War. Along with his active writings of literary works, which were collected in the first part of the series, he played a leading role by interpreting Japanese culture and arts to Western society in the early twentieth century. He extensively wrote and lectured in English. In particular, he devoted his English efforts to promote Ukiyo-e and traditional arts of Japan, and published art books with color plates and other illustrations." Noguchi's writing is singularly evocative and moving. For example: "Whenever I see Utamaro's works, which successfully discharge a wonderful feast of art, I cannot help exclaiming: 'What a limpidity of sweet emotion! What an atmosphere of languor almost akin to sorrow there is.'