Unai no tomo (A Child's Friends, Japanese folk toys) by Seifu Shimizu. Edited by Yamada Naozaburo - 1911

Offering: Volumes II-IV from the ten volumes set, the production of high quality. The 133 color woodblock prints in the three volumes are made from designs by Shimizu, after works in his collection. Some prints have additional hand applied color, or silver or gold leaf. Volumes II and IV with numbered sheets and four and five stamped seals respectively are from the rare first printing. Volume III is an early printing. Many of the volumes in the set were issued independently, at intervals over 32 years between 1891 and 1923: the last four volumes were issued posthumously. Importance: Widely considered the most important, early illustrated Japanese book on omocha (toys), the work is also of ethnographic and cultural significance. Omocha were traditionally handmade from common materials and usually sold at festivals on ennichi (link-days). Many were derived from amulets and talismans rooted in religious and magical beliefs associated with Shinto and traditional Japanese folklore. Shimizu was a student of Hiroshige III and had long contemplated preparation of the work. A connoisseur, his intimacy with his collection resulted in a series of exquisite designs, in which color, form and function all become one. There aren't just a few highlights, there are many, and their ability to create references to Japanese history, culture, religion and family life is endlessly surprising. A source of inspiration for the Mingei movement, the work inspired artists such as Munakata Shiko and is a reference for historians, anthropologists, ethnographers and collectors. Pate calls it, "the classic work" and Kyburz, "the bible for all serious toy amateurs". Rarity: A worldwide institution search finds complete first printing sets only in Japan, at the National Diet Library and the Kyoto Public Library. The second edition was published by Geisodo in 1924 and a third edition with English notes (1965). Pagination: Complete for the 3 volumes, numbered leaves in Vols. II and IV; 170 pages + 23 interleaf guards with 133 woodblock prints with captions showing at least 243 toys or sets. Twelve prints are double-page with format of two facing pages. These prints are usually protected by a tissue interleaf. (Volume II is perhaps the most interesting volume in the collection: I have chosen images of five woodblock prints from the volume and could have readily chosen five more.) Vol. II: 59 pages with 26 numbered leaves, stamped with 4 seals. Vol. III: 56 pages, stamped with 1 seal. Vol. IV: 55 pages with 25 numbered leaves, stamped with 5 seals. Format: Publisher's camel wrappers with powdered mica, decorated with eighteen blind printed toy designs, nine to a side, sewn with 4-stab holes in the fukuro-toji style, publisher's beige title slips mounted on the upper side, the mikaeshi (inside of each wrapper) with one of two variants of an original Shimizu print design in pale turquoise and white, showing in stylized fashion a flying crane (air), stand of trees (earth), and sea turtle (ocean). Size: 173 x 250 mm. Condition: Good. Woodblock prints fresh and sharp, some with customary toning-spotting, some with light tip bends, two prints in Volume III with a gentle corner crease. Blocked in blind cover designs are sharp and have the original powdered mica. Mikaeshi: excellent, except one with fore-edge chip. / Interleaf Guards: light wear, one with bottom edge wear. / Owner Markings: upper wrapper side in each volume with Japanese ex-libris stamp. / Covers: Toy designs sharp with some rubs and soiling, lower sides with bottom corner wear and spine edge wear, upper wrapper side of Vol. II with a 7 x 15 mm section neatly sliced from foot of the spine (no designs missing). / Title Slips: soiled-rubbed for Vol. II. / Bindings: Excellent, corner caps with minor wear. Shimizu Seifu [1851-1913]: The leading Meiji period collector of omocha including ningyo (dolls). Artist, calligrapher and head of a wealthy Tokyo trading company, Shimizu studied poetry with Kozando Sangetsu, and painting with Hiroshige III, holding in trust important Ando Hiroshige artifacts including his seals. In 1880 he founded the Takeuma-kai (Hobbyhorse Club) for advancing the enjoyment and study of the many forms of traditional Japanese folk toys and in 1906 he curated the first known exhibition of Japanese folk toys in Japan, the Kodomo Hakurankai (Children's Exhibition). In 1909, he founded the influential Odomokai (Connoisseur's Club) that greatly advanced their appreciation. Publishing Dates: Vol. I (1891). Vols. II-V (1911). Vol. VI (1913) is the last volume supervised by Shimizu, for he died in 1913. Volumes VII-X were published posthumously with transfer designs by the artist, Nishizawa Tekiho, Vol. VII (1917), Vol. VIII (1921), Vols. IX and X (1923). Reference: Culin, Japanese Toys and their lore. Kyburz, Omocha. Additional Images: by request.