Librarian
Artistic Precursors to Manga
A scene from The Tale of Genji, an emaki scroll illustrated by an unknown artist (circa 1130 CE). Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The emaki or "picture scroll" is a unique and dramatic form of art. Holding an emaki scroll in his hands, the viewer gradually unrolls a pageant of interwoven scenes and text as he becomes immersed in the unfolding story.
— Hideo Okudaira, Narrative Picture Scrolls
When discussing the earliest precursors to manga, many authors point to the Japanese medium of emaki or emakimono, which are "handscrolls that illustrate stories with a sequence of paintings. By definition an emaki must illustrate a text, either sacred or secular, with emphasis on developments in the narrative," thereby setting them apart from handscrolls depicting landscapes or disconnected scenes (Murase, 1983, p.15). While most of these scrolls were produced between the tenth and sixteenth centuries, the art form remained alive until the Edo period, where it was succeeded by other media which mixed text and images; "this continuity made the Japanese culture familiar with graphic narration, a fact that certainly contributed to the blossoming and social acceptance of manga" (Okudaira, 1962; Bouissou, 2010, p. 19).
Yokai: The Ancient Prints of Japanese Monsters
The macabre ritual of the hundred candles is the idea behind this original project that presents 200 works from the 18th and 19th centuries in Japan, including prints, rare antique books, clothes, weapons, swords, a samurai suit of armour and a ten-metre long scroll that tells the story of Shutendoji, a mythological creature at the head of an army of monsters that haunted Mount Oe near Kyoto.
Kuniyoshi X Kunisada
Rival 'ukiyo-e' masters Utagawa Kuniyoshi and Utagawa Kunisada were the two most admired designers of figure prints in 19th-century Japan. With glorious full-color illustrations, this beautifully produced volume presents Kuniyoshi and Kunisada's artistic rivalry through a selection of outstanding works from the unparalleled Japanese art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Hokusai X Manga: Japanese Pop Culture Since 1680
Early Japanese popular culture, in the form of the coloured woodcuts of artists like Hokusai and Kuniyoshi, achieved world fame after Japan's opening. The pop culture of today, from manga to anime, has also conquered the globe. Now the sheets and books of woodcuts by the most famous renowned ukiyo-e artists confront the visual mass media in the comics and cartoons of modern Japan.
