Sixteen Illustrations of Ancient Ceremonial Displays

Kyoto, Japan: Kyoto Art Society. Printed by Kyoto Bijutsu Kyokai, 1903. Oblong orihon concertina-fold codex. (9 5/8 × 14 1/2 inches). First edition. 16 openings, 32 pp. 18 color-woodblock plates heightened with silver and textured inks including an architectural plan and 9 double-page spreads, all with Japanese title captions. Preliminary and terminal text in calligraphic Japanese with red woodblock stamps. Book reads from right to left: title and contents (1 p.), calligraphy (1 p.), 18 woodblock prints (27 pp.), postscript (3 pp.), colophon (1 p.). Publisher's green foliate-patterned silk fabric-covered boards in concertina-fold form with a printed color calligraphic paper-label on front board, thick wove paper with flecked endpapers

Exquisitely printed Meiji-period color woodblock-printed book, or gafu, by the master Neo-Rinpa artist Furuya Korin, in its original orihon, or concertina-fold, format and binding.

Furuya's Ancient Ceremonial Displays is a splendidly lavish, complex woodblock-printed book of traditional Japanese Imperial Court interiors from the premodern era. The superbly executed work is an elegant example of the orihon, or Japanese concertina-fold, codex printed on one side of a long piece of thick paper, then folded and placed in silk-wrapped boards. Furuya's publication was produced for members of the Kyoto Art Society in 1903; it captures how elite residences would decorate public rooms for special occasions. Its beautifully clear, intricate images depict all of the accouterments necessary for formal Japanese Court ceremonies and social activities of the ruling-class, such as tea and incense ceremonies, coming-of-age and wedding celebrations, and the samurai armor and clothing used in official events. So, too, do we see bonsai, furnishing, costume, ceramics, flowers, musical instruments, cat statues, folding screens, woodblock prints, fans, and weapons. The early twentieth-century fascination with Japan's past typified by the present work is a response to the opening and unbridled modernization of Japan in the late-1800s and the ensuing loss of a sense of tradition. Furuya, a master Meiji-era devotee of the Rinpa abstract aesthetic, was one of the foremost modern designers in fin-de-siècle Japan. Furuya adopted the name of the Rinpa artist Ogata Korin (1658-1716) as his own, claiming Ogata's legacy, saying he was the "Korin of the modern age," and pushed his style further. Ogata himself was famous for revitalizing the imagery of the classical literary world as imagined by Tawaraya Sotatsu (1570-1643). Rinpa artists used vibrant colors and patterns to design textiles, ceramics, and paintings long before abstraction was embraced in the West. Born in the Shiga Prefecture near Kyoto, Furuya studied under Suzuki Mannen (1868-1893), the Western-style painter Asai Chu (1856-1907), and most importantly, Kamisaka Sekka (1855-1942), who was the leading Rinpa practitioner of his day. Furuya became "instrumental in the development of Japanese modern design in the early twentieth-century" by taking up the mantle of Rinpa and pulling it into the new century. [Dover] He did so in part by being an integral member of the Kyoto Arts and Crafts circle and editing the important journal of Japanese design Shin-Bijutsukai. Beginning in 1905, Furuya also taught at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts; he was appointed to a professorship directly before his death in 1910. Among Furuya's works are other orihon-format albums of geometric patterns and motifs from nature based on flowers and plants (1905), pine trees (1905), and bamboo (1907), all published by Yamada Unsodo. His Korin Patterns (1907), a two-volume sample book for the kimono industry, was described by John T. Carpenter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as "impressive." Furuya's gafu and e-hon works are held by the British Museum and the Rijksmuseum. The present book is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. List of Plates: 1. Ritual Utensil Decoration. 2. Bedroom Decoration. 3. Genpuku Ceremony Decoration [Coming-of-Age Ceremony]. 4. Kujo Aristocratic Family's Dormitory Architectural Plan. 5. Official Clothing. 6. Poetry Party Decoration. 7. Garaku Equipment Decoration. 8. Kemari Decoration [Ancient Ball Game Played at Court]. 9. Sencha Decorations [Tea]. 10. Matcha Decorations. 11. Raku Decoration. 12. Monko Seating Decoration [Incense Ceremony]. 13. Banquet Decoration. 14. Wedding Decoration. 15. Play Accessories. 16. Armor Decoration. 17. Armor Decoration II. 18. Tachibana Decoration [Prominent Family].

Carpenter, Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art, pp. 35-36, 102. Dover Publications, A Mirror of Japanese Ornament: 600 Traditional Designs, p. xi.