Fumitsune Hōgikuchō 文常芳菊帖 (also Hōgikuchō 芳菊帖)

Iijima Fumitsune 飯島文常, artist. Chikugado 竹画堂刀 , block cutter. Fumitsune Hōgikuchō 文常芳菊帖 (also Hōgikuchō 芳菊帖). Korakudo 後楽堂, publisher. [Tenpo 2 天保二 1832]. 27.5 x 19cm orihon folding album with navy blue boards in brown chitsu with clasps. Photocopied title slip on front board; chitsu title slip reads Hōgikuchō 芳菊帖. Introductory notes in Japanese text with 4 hanko lists artist name Iijima Fumitsune 飯島文常 and date. Red artist hanko on each woodcut, with final red hanko in a basket design (with the characters Gōsō 傲霜) on facing page of colophon.

Zodiacal date given in preface is Mizunoe tatsu 壬辰 (1832, 1892, etc.) Tokyo library online version gives date as Tenpo 2 天保二 [1832]. The feel and type of paper confirms the 1832 date. Our volume corresponds to the Tokyo library version, except ours has a title slipand the order of woodcuts near the end is reversed. The publisher/bookstore name on the colophon is Korakudo 後楽堂 in Hokuetsu 北越, Nagaoka 長岡, in Northern Japan (in the current area of Niigata Prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan). The rarity of this volume may be attributed to the remote location of the publisher.　　

Lovely double page original woodblock prints of chrysanthemums, in color and black and white. Each woodcut is surrounded by a border with its name in Japanese text in the margin above, with one blocked out. 15 striking depictions of the flower, some with single, others with double, blossoms per image.

One copy located, in the Tokyo Metropolitan Library (Tōkyō Toritsu Toshokan 東京都立図書館).