KAWAKAMI Sumio. Tabako Torai-ki

The title translates as: Account of the Arrival of Tobacco.
Personal edition. 1943 (Showa 18)

One 165x235mm accordion-fold book containing 10 hand-painted woodblock prints with two hand-painted woodblock prints on the cover. Original printed slipcase.
An extremely rare edition limited to 50 copies (this is number 24), produced by Sumio Kawakami, and awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Fourth Class.

A magnificent series of eight drawings depicting the introduction of tobacco from the Americas to Japan by the Portuguese and its subsequent spread within 16th-century Japanese society.

This series of textless engravings is framed by a title page and signature. The drawings show the Portuguese trading with Native Americans before sailing to Japan and interacting with Japanese society.

This book is the second in the artist's personal collection on the theme of Nanban. Highly poetic and sensitive, it is remarkably well-preserved despite its age and fragility.

Kawakami's drawings from this period explore the era of Japanese trade with Europeans, from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century until Japan's isolation in the 17th century, focusing on the tobacco trade. This period of cultural exchange and interaction is known as the "Nanban period."

In March 1945, as the Pacific War raged, Sumio Kawakami (1895-1972) decided to retire from his position as an English teacher at Utsunomiya Prefectural High School, where he had worked for 20 years, and dedicate himself fully to the craft of woodblock printing. Kawakami developed a style influenced by the Meiji Kaika and Nagasaki Nanban periods. His primitive, rustic drawing style and his vivid, limited color palette evoke a profound poetry, nostalgic for a bygone era. This book is part of a series printed by the artist in the 1940s on the Nanban theme.

He is a unique and recognizable artist whom the Casaubon bookstore particularly admires.

To learn more:
Artist biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chosei_Kawakami

Elias Martin's YouTube channel featuring books by Sumio Kawakami:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheEliasMartin/search?query=sumio

View a selection of the artist's work on the Smithsonian website: https://asia.si.edu/search/?edan_q=sumio+kawakami

Condition: Very good condition considering the age and fragility of the work; a few minor stains and some areas of detachment behind the back cover.