100 woodblock prints of Edo culture

Author(s): Yoshiko Yuasa, Edward F. Domino Format: Soft cover (8.5 inches by 11 inches, 50 pound paper) ISBN-13: 9780916182182 Pages: 112 Publication date: 2009-01-01 Price: $20.00

Author(s): Yoshiko Yuasa, Edward F. Domino Format: Soft cover (A4, high quality paper) ISBN-13: 9780916182168 Pages: 112 Publication date: 2008-11-01 Price: $35.00

The purpose of this work is to make available to the general public a small set of Japanese woodblock prints called Ukiyo-e. One hundred were selected from the extensive collection of Ukiyo-e in a special museum located in Tokyo, Japan. The Tobacco and Salt Museum has a superb collection of woodblock prints devoted to the history of both tobacco and salt and their impact over the centuries on Japan.

In the present volume, descriptions in both English and Japanese accompany each print. Those in English are purposely detailed. We wished to take the reader “by the hand” and describe what each Ukiyo-e reveals in a unique period in Japanese history. References to tobacco and its use are to be viewed as part of the Japanese concept of Shikohin as described in the Introduction by the Museum Director, Dr. Yoshihiko Ohkawa.

Each original print is made available through the kindness of the Tobacco and Salt Museum. Most are unknown to Westerners. The viewer/reader of this selected collection from the Museum's archives is given a visual and written tour of Japanese Edo period culture. Like a series of snapshots, each of the prints provides a view of a unique cultural experience. Members of Edo society used small amounts of tobacco which was smoked in very small bowl pipes called Kiseru. These pipes were of various lengths and sizes. Using tea and small amounts of tobacco were common recreational and pleasure-seeking activities of Edo society.