Object details
Accession number
8.a.1.11
Creators
Full title
The Matsuyama Mirror [Matsuyama Kagami]
Creation Date
1886
Language
English
Publication Place
Tokyo
Binding Description
Silk stab tied
Provenance
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner (a set of sixteen of her Japanese Fairy Tales) from East Asian art dealer, Otto Fukushima, New York for $1.50 on 16 December 1893. She added the seventeenth volume (probably 8.a.1.3) to her collection at a later date (after 1906).
Dimensions
18 x 12 cm (7 1/16 x 4 3/4 in.)
Display Media
Ink and color on paper
Web Commentary
The Japanese Fairy Tales book series was first published in Tokyo by the Kobunsha press in the mid-1880s. Kobunsha’s founder, Takejiro Hasegawa (1853-1938), originally created these English translations of Japanese folk stories as schoolbooks for Japanese students. After realizing that they would also be popular with a Western audience, Hasegawa redesigned them as souvenirs for tourists.
Isabella Stewart Gardner was fascinated by Japanese culture and toured the country with her husband in 1883. She created a Japanese garden for her Brookline residence, and acquired Japanese art for her museum. Gardner purchased seventeen Hasegawa books, taking care to acquire first editions published for Japanese readers when possible.
Permanent Gallery Location
Long Gallery
Bibliography
Susan Sinclair and Philip B. Eppard. Catalogue of Children’s Books from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection and the Personal Libraries of John Lowell and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Boston, 1988), p. 28, no. 32.
Rights and reproductions
The use of images, text, and all other media found on this website is limited. Please review Rights and Reproductions for details.