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Japanese woodblock printed book titled on the illustrated cover Fugaku Shinkei (“True Pictures of Mt. Fuji”) by Haruna Shigeharu (1847-1913). The colophon page in the back contains the publication date of Meiji 27 (1894), 9th month, 12th day and the name of the Tokyo publisher Shimomura Shotaro. The first two folded-paper pages include a calligraphic introduction and a double-page landscape illustration with Mt. Fuji in the background (enlargement 5). The 7 3/8” x 10” soft-cover book is bound in the traditional manner with pages threaded at the right. Each of the thirty-two single-sheet pages features the same view of Mt. Fuji illustrated under a variety of seasonal conditions reflected in the varying snow-line. This album closely resembles a work by Myoo Shuga, dated 1822 and titled Sano Shinkei (“True Pictures of the King of Mountains”), which is described and illustrated on pages 872-873 of Jack Hillier’s “The Art of the Japanese Book.” Both albums include a depiction of Mt. Fuji with a kasagumo, or ‘bamboo-hat cloud,’ sitting solidly over the crest of the mountain (enlargement 6). The individual prints of Mt. Fuji are in very good, clean overall condition. There is some evidence of soiling and wear to the edges of the cover and back and the top and bottom stitches in the binding have come loose. The paper shows some signs of minor age toning. Haruna Shigeharu is also known as a prominent painter of Kutani porcelain. Another woodblock printed book by this artist can be found in the Muller Collection in the Freer & Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian. It is dated 1903 and includes woodblock printed illustrations of birds and flowers.
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