Ashura-cho
No Image
- SIGNED
- 1920
1920. ITO, Chuta. Ashura-cho. 5 volumes with a total of 500 numbered plates. 4to, 250 x 215 mm., publisher's decorated cloth over boards, each in a chitsu case. Tokyo-shi Kanda-ku: Kokusui Shuppansha, 1920-21. A handsome set of this extremely unusual collection of Japanese caricatures which came out just after the First World War. The artist Ito Chuta was, by profession, an architect, and also a gifted caricaturist. The 500 plates are his view of Japan and the World during and after the War. Each of the plates consist of part color woodcut caricature and part commentary, in a combination of letterpress and woodcut calligraphy. The cases show some wear, but the books themselves are fine.