Sharaku, A Complete Collection. Reproduction by the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints de Teruji Yoshida and Toshusai Sharaku. Essay by Ichitaro Kondo. Edited by Toyohisa Adachi who supervised the making of the woodblock printed facsimile reproductions - 1960

Offering: An extraordinary publishing endeavor, more than ten years in the making, the only two issued volumes, with texts in English and 72 actual size, replica reproductions,tipped in, and individually sleeved in 460 x 360 mm mats with mounted English and Japanese labels. No further volumes were published because of higher than expected production costs. Fifty five of the replicas are color woodblock prints, made from new woodblocks with traditional nishiki-e methods, using examples of authentic Sharaku prints. Of these, thirty six are finished with applied powdered mica, using kira-zuri technique. Seventeen replicas are collotypes of b/w drawings of print designs, attributed by Yoshida to Sharaku and published for the first time. Yoshida's texts, (his 1943 monograph on Sharaku was the first by a Japanese scholar), draw on years of original research. Rarity: The Adachi Institute was established in 1928 to replicate rare ukiyo-e prints in the original woodblock print format. Because of Adachi's working methods, the edition would have been limited to no more than 200 unnumbered sets. I know of no other complete specimen offered for sale in the last 15 years. A worldwide search finds 19 sets in institutions including the National Diet Library of Japan, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and University of Hawaii. Condition: Woodblock Print Replicas: Fine / Collotype Facsimiles: Fine / Labels: Fine / Volume I Mats: Good, top corner bumped. Volume II Mats: Fine / Text Booklets: Very Good. Pages: Fine / Wrappers: Near Fine, upper side of Booklet I with a small spot. / Glassine Dust Wrappers: About Fine / Bindings: Good: solid and reliable but somewhat weakened, booklets need to be handled with care. / Leaves with List of Illustrations: Good, margins with slight thumbing / Leaf I: offset margin toning from the portfolio / Leaf II: blank rear with soiling. / Portfolios: Good, scuffs and rubs, some bottom corner wear, interior of Portfolio I with edge toning. / Labels: Good, some soiling and rubs. Volume I Replicas: Folded Leaf I with list of woodblock replicas and publishing information for Volume I. 40 color woodblock prints, produced like the original prints commissioned by Tsutaya Juzaburo: A) The complete Period I Set of 28 half-length, Kabuki actor figure prints (okubi-e) with applied dark ground mica. (Mica with a black sheen was used for Sharaku prints until a sumptuary edict by the Tokugawa Shogunate outlawed its use. Sharaku subsequently designed prints that called for red ground mica.) B) The complete set of 8 full-length Kabuki actor figure prints (hosoban) with applied red mica, including the 7 known prints with 2 full-length figures from the equally esteemed Period II. C) 4 prints of the young Sumo wrestler, Daidozan, three from Period III and the sole oban print from Period IV. Volume II Replicas: Folded Leaf II with list of woodblock and collotype replicas and publishing information for Volume II. Woodblock: 15 color woodblock prints produced like the original prints commissioned by Tsutaya Juzaburo. A) 12 actor prints with yellow ground from Period III. B) The only two prints of historical subjects from Period III. C) Earliest sumo wrestler print of Daidozan-at age 7, discovered in 1955 and identified by the author, dated from Period II. Collotype: 17 print designs attributed by Yoshida to Sharaku, (attribution is controversial), 8 of actors, dated to Period II and 9 of Sumo wrestlers, dated to Period IV. Format: Sleeved print and drawing replicas are laid with folded illustration table leaves and text booklets in the publisher's dark blue cloth portfolios attached with natural bone clasps (maru chitsu style), upper sides decorated with mounted, pictorial orange paper labels after designs attributed to Sharaku. Size: 480 mm. Pagination: Booklet I: viii, 77 pages, with extensive notes on the prints, chapters on history of Kabuki, a history of pictures of Kabuki actors, and pp 71-77, a contributory essay by Ichitaro Kondo, "The Art of Toshusai Sharaku". / Booklet II: (4 pp.), 52 pages, with extensive notes on the prints, history of Sumo wrestling, history of pictures of Sumo wrestlers, history of references to Sharaku and a study of attributions for the drawings. Reference: OCLC 29085415 and OCLC 40767538. Additional Images: by request.