KYOTO Miyako Meisho Zue. ( Collection of Pictures of Famous Places of the Capital). Six Volumes. By Rito Akisato. Xylographically printed and illustrated throughout, including many double page illustrations by Takehara Shunchôsai Nobushige. Osaka: Kawachiya Tasuke, Tenmei 6 [1786]. PLUS:

_____________. Shûi-Miyako Meisho Zue. ( Supplement to the Collection of Pictures of Famous Places of the Capital). Five Volumes. Xylographically printed and illustrated throughout, including many double page illustrations by Takehara Shunchôsai Nobushige. 4to., 259 x 183 mm, bound in original publisher's Japanese paper wrappers bound accordion style and stitched with silk-thread. Preserved in blue Japanese shitzu case. Osaka: Kawachiya Tasuke, Tenmei 7 [1787].

First Edition of this exceptional eighteenth-century guide to the famous sites of Kyoto and the surrounding region. Akisato's guide documents the views of the Kyoto region through detailed and specific visual and textual information. Because of the devastating Kyoto fire of 1788, copies of this rare work that have survived are of the utmost historical significance.

The eleven volumes contain over 410 woodblocks printed on hand-made mulberry paper by Takehara Shunchôsai Nobushige who was active from 1772 to 1801. The illustrations record Buddhist and Shinto shrines and temples, religious ceremonies and funeral processions, New Year's celebrations, processions of the Emperor throughout Kyoto, portrayals of everyday life in the city such as merchant shops like the fan maker or the kimono seller, establishments for various arts and crafts, refreshment houses, and numerous depictions of aristocratic and Imperial estates. Specific views of note include: the monastery of Honganji dating from the Xth century, the temple of Sanjùsaugendò with the 33 statues of Buddha, a luxurious Imperial cortege, the sub-temples of Daitokuji, and the Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji paviklons, to list but a few.

The volumes are dated Anei 9 [1780], however, we know that they were not actually published until Tenmei 6 [1786]. The success enjoyed by Akisato's Miyako Meisho zue was substantial, encouraging him to issue a five volume supplement a year later, with additional views and descriptive text entitled: Shûi-Miyako Meisho Zue, Tenmei 7 [1787]. The text in all volumes is a mixture of Chinese and Japanese; the legends to the illustrations appear in both languages as well. Often there are poetic or literary citations that accompany a particular view.

The Imperial Capital of Kyoto was the national symbol of pride and power in Japan for over a thousand years. Most of the Imperial City perished in the great fire of 1788; only the temples and gardens situated in the mountains surrounding Kyoto survived destruction. Hence, Akisato's descriptions and woodcut illustrations remain of paramount value in recording a city that mainly disappeared a mere two years after the book's publication. Akisato's Meisho zue reinvented an old genre of illustrated guide-books in Japan; and within thirty five years most of the major cities and prefectures of Japan that attracted travelers had published guides to their celebrated sites.

Akisato Rito (1776-1830) was responsible for the redesign and addition of the six new rocks in the Zen stone-garden masterpiece, Ryoan-ji, after the disastrous fire. In addition to the current publication, his other major works include a further meisho-zue or "guide book: Miyako Rinsen meisho zue (Illustrated Manual of Celebrated Gardens in the Capital) 1799, and the Ishigumi sonou yaegaki den (Transmission of Rock Compositions, Live Gardens, and Eight Types of Fences) 1827. Some minor rubbing to extremities of bindings, a small piece of the title to volume 4 missing, A few other minor paper flaws, overall, a fine, clean set. Rare.

PROVENANCE: Early owner's name "Nakamura" (?) inside a few volumes.

Kerlen, Catalogue of Pre-Meiji Japanese Books and Maps in Public Collections in the Netherlands, # 1065 & 1066. V. Béranger, Recueils Illustrés de Lieux Célèbres (Meisho Zue) ; objets de collections, Ebisu, Maison Franco-Japonaise, Tòkyò, 2002, n° 29, pp. 81-113. Chibbett, Descriptive Catalogue of the Pre-1868 Japanese Books, 139. Toda: Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago, 334 (one volume only).