Publisher's Synopsis
The Tōkaidō meisho zue (1797) on the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō Road is one of the most important Japanese illustrated woodblock printed books.
It is a forerunner for the many Tōkaidō series of colored prints of the ukiyp-e genre like the ones by Hokusai and Hiroshige a.o.
The intention of publishing this is to give lovers of Japanese prints some background material. It may also be used as a coloring book although there is a lot of text.
The Meisho zue printed books' illustrations are originally in black and white and are therefore perfect for coloring exercise and also for the study of landscape design.
The original size was hanshibon, c. 26 x 18.5 cms / 10.25in X 7in.
This volume is vol 4 of six, which were each enveloped in a rice colored folder, Chinese style, and the pages stiched together. The authors hope to be able to publish the rest in the series as well as some other printed books series.
For the reader wishing more information the authors refer to their book Hokusai 36 Views of Mt Fuji, which is available in pocket version, hard cover and large format.
The meisho zue (名 所 図 会?, literally "illustrated books of famous views") are illustrated books describing famous places (the meisho) of Japan during the second half of the Edo period, late 18th and first half of the nineteenth century. The Edo period itself is usually given as c. 1600 to 1868. The places are described there in the text through their history, the related legends, the sites to visit, as well as by the illustration which offers a faithful overview of the topology. These illustrated books are characterized by the importance of image and the desire for simplicity which make them objects intended for the greatest number of people.
The black and white meisho zue are fascinating in themselves, but they were also direct sources for the ukiyo-e artists Hokusai and Hiroshige, who had not visited all the sites they made colored prints about.
Meisho originally meant "a place with poetical association" or "a place famed in poetry". The characters used to write the word also read nadokoro. This refers to topics accepted in waka.
In the Muromachi Period (1392 - 1573) meisho started to change meaning. Non traditional waka subjects became meisho - historical spots, flourishing places, famed or notorious places, and the word came to mean "places which attract mass interest".
By mid Edo period the original meaning was completely lost. Kunisada's Edo meisho zue, .
Meisho had been reserved for the elite who could read classical Chinese and write poems. Now the "uneducated" classes grew an interest in meisho, and it passed into the increasingly prosperous lower classes which also acquired a high degree of literacy, up to 80 pct with city dwelling groups and farmers, see Yoshitaki, Kunikazu and Nansuitei Yoshiyuki 100 Views of Osaka, ISBN 9781649454539 and Hiroshige Famous Places of Naniwa (Osaka) ISBN 9781649454515.
