Picture Book Popular Three Kingdoms (Upper and Lower)

Author: (Japanese) Katsushika Hokusai Japan/Japan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-04-01
Features: The Popular Three Kingdoms has beened for nearly 150 years and, during the Tenpō era (1830–1843), it was followed by The Picture Book Popular Three Kingdoms with illustrations. The term "picture book" refers to what is now commonly known as an illustrated edition, a popular phenomenon during the Edo period. Its artistic style is ukiyo-e, initially used for children's book illustrations, later becoming a pastime for scholars, and its content was no longer limited to early childhood literature. The Picture Book Popular Three Kingdoms reorganized the original 50 volumes into eight parts and 75 volumes, with the text further corrected by Iketani Tōriyō. The first, second, and third parts were published in 1836 (Tenpō 7), and the final part appeared in 1841 (Tenpō 12), by which time China had been forced open by foreign invaders and had entered modern society. In Japan, picture books had entered the era of colored illustrations with the advancement of woodblock printing technology during the Tenpō era. Therefore, some of the illustrations in The Picture Book Popular Three Kingdoms are also colored. According to the publication credits, nearly 400 illustrations in this picture book were drawn by Katsushika Taitō, a pseudonym of the famous ukiyo-e painter Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). Thus, it is generally believed that the work was created by Hokusai himself. However, Hokusai often gave his pseudonyms to his senior disciples. Through research by the Japanese scholar Suzuki Shigzō, it has been determined that the Katsushika Taitō who illustrated The Picture Book Popular Three Kingdoms was not Hokusai himself but his disciple (Suzuki referred to him as "Katsushika Taitō II"). Despite this, the illustrations in The Picture Book Popular Three Kingdoms are still considered exquisite. This book is a compilation of 450 color and black-and-white illustrations by Katsushika Taitō for The Popular Three Kingdoms, a Japanese version of Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms adapted and reinterpreted by the Japanese monk "Hunan Wenshan" after referencing official historical records. Its precious value lies in the following three aspects:
1. The layout of the illustrations and text, where characters and chapter titles are interwoven, transforms the familiar Three Kingdoms stories into vivid and dynamic images, enhancing the reading enjoyment of the classic.
2. Through the rich and varied artistic aesthetic style, readers can appreciate the Japanese people's understanding of the Three Kingdoms stories and their cultural implications, gaining valuable insights.
3. For enthusiasts of "Three Kingdoms culture" and art workers, this reproduction of the original edition in exquisite detail is undoubtedly a rare and valuable historical treasure of renowned masters.