Ehon Shoshin Hashiradate

In 1794 Shichirōbei Kikuya published a three-volume, woodblock-printed picture book entitled Ehon Shoshin Hashiradate (i.e., Picture Book Guide for Beginners). Volume two included thirty-nine pages of bird pictures and volume three included thirty-six pages of flower pictures. These pages are shown here. Click on a picture to enlarge it. The artist who drew these pictures was unnamed. He drew the shapes of flowers more accurately than the shapes of birds but both flowers and birds were colored only in shades of gray. To see a gallery with larger pictures click here.

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