Japanese Art Folio c.1900 – Ogawa – Complete 72 Plates – Japan–Australia

[OGAWA, Kazumasa, photographer; SHUGIO, Hiromichi, editor; TAMURA, T., colour plates]
Japanese Art Folio (日本美術帖)

Tokyo : Published by K. Ogawa, [contents 1898–1899, this deluxe bound volume issued] 1901. Printed at the Tokyo Tsukiji Type Foundry.

Large folio (approx. 32 x 47 cm), original decorated silk boards in a chrysanthemum brocade pattern over stiff boards, printed paper title label to the front board, gilt edges, closed with cord ties in the traditional Japanese deluxe binding style; 72 (73) collotype and colour plates reproducing classical Japanese paintings, each protected by a tissue guard carrying a bilingual English/Japanese caption identifying the artist, subject, and holding collection; twelve colour plates by T. Tamura, the remainder monochrome collotypes by Ogawa Kazumasa, F.R.P.S.

With an important and historical presentation inscription to the front free endpaper: "To Sir John See, With compliments from Admiral Kamimura, June 1, 1903."

Sir John See (1845–1907), KCMG, was the sitting Premier of New South Wales from 1901 to 1904. Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō (1849–1916) commanded the Imperial Japanese Navy's Training Squadron (the cruisers Matsushima, Itsukushima, and Hashidate) on its 1902–03 training cruise, which brought the first Japanese naval visit to Australia since 1887. The squadron, carrying over 1,300 officers and men, reached Sydney in early June 1903, where the NSW Government hosted a formal reception for the visiting officers at Parliament House under See's premiership; Kamimura himself was still writing from Sydney as late as 10 June. This was presentation copy of Japanese art was presented as an official gift-giving accompanying the squadron's goodwill visit (SMH, 15 June 1903, p. 8, National Library of Australia, nla.news-article14532469). This copy was edited by Hiromichi Shugio, a key figure in Meiji-era cultural diplomacy toward the West (curator of the Grolier Club's landmark 1889 ukiyo-e exhibition and Imperial Commissioner for Japanese art at Chicago, Paris, and St. Louis) and produced by Ogawa Kazumasa, Japan's pioneering collotype printer and publisher of the art journal Kokka.

Admiral Kamimura was an important figure and would go on to greater fame the following year commanding the IJN 2nd Fleet at the Battle off Ulsan and at Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War.

This presentation copy is from a figure of real subsequent historical stature to a serving Australian head of government, at a documented moment of early Australia–Japan naval diplomacy.

Boards bright overall with some wear to the silk at the extremities and spine ends, title label toned with a faint vertical crease; presentation leaf on gold-flecked decorative paper, inscription clear and fully legible. Text/tissue guard leaves with scattered foxing in places, heavier to a few individual leaves; the plates themselves are bright and clean, with colours strong on the twelve Tamura plates. All black and white and colour plates are present. Overall a well-preserved example of this scarce deluxe Meiji-era folio, with Kamimura–See presentation.