Takeda Hisayoshi ????, author & Funazaki K?jir? ?????, artist — K?Zan Kafu ????

1947. Takeda Hisayoshi ????, author & Funazaki K?jir? ?????, artist. K?zan Kafu ????. Tokyo: Fugaku Honsha ????. Sh?wa 22 ??22 [1947]. 73 pages. Author and artist hanko are tipped-in to colophon. 28.5 x 20.5 cm, bound western-style (opens Japanese style) with a color, wrap-around woodblock-printed dust wrapper. In modern chitsu with clasps. Foreword by author and botanist Takeda Hisayoshi ???? (1883-1972) and afterword by artist Funazaki K?jir? ?????. Index with guide to plates with plant names in Latin and Japanese. The 33 laid-down color woodcut prints of mountain flowers by Funazaki enhance the text and its black and white halftones. They are in a s?saku hanga ???? (Creative Print Movement) style and are quite beautiful. It is obvious that this work was more than a botanical guide with its large format and lovely prints. It is remarkable that works like this were being published in 1946-7 in Japan, considering the extreme shortages, particularly of paper of any kind, never mind the high quality paper used in these publications. Fugaku Honsha ????, the Fugaku publishing company, was the same one which published Onchi K?shir?’s ????? Shinsh? Fuji ???? and its office was right next to Onchi's home. Very scarce and interesting. .