KAWAKAMI Sumio. Nanbanen-ki

We could translate the title by : Chronicle of the Southern Barbarian Ships or Chronicle of the Nanban Ships.

1 book of 115x85mm, Japanese binding, cover printed with a print and hand-colored. Traditional case and original box. 12 pages of prints in cherry wood engraving and hand-painted.

Reprint published by Toho Shobo in 1977 faithful to the original, with the exception of a slightly smaller book format. It is limited to 500 copies.

This book is a combination of poems and original engravings by Sumio Kawakami originally published in 35 copies in 1942. It is one of the artist's first books.
The poems and drawings deal with the period when Japan traded with Europeans from the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century until the closure of Japan in the 17th century. This period of cultural confrontation and exchange is called the "Nanban trade era".

In March 1945, while the Pacific War was in full swing, 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 to devote himself fully to the profession of woodblock print engraver.

Kawakami worked on his style marked by the Meiji Kaika period and the Nagasaki Nanban period. His primitive, rustic drawing style and his bright and restricted color palette exude a great poetry, nostalgic for very expressive past universes. This book is part of a set of books printed by the artist in the 1940s on the theme of Nanban.

He is a unique and identifiable artist that the Casaubon bookstore particularly appreciates.

For more information:
Artist biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chosei_Kawakami

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

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

Condition: There are stains on the cover and front cover.