Tamenaga Shunsui (Japanese, 1790-1844) Eight Virtuous Women, Edo Woodblock Set by Eisen and Kuninao, ca. 1833, with Mori Seal

Tamenaga Shunsui (1790-1844)

Teiso Fujin Hakken-shi ‘Eight Virtuous Women’, Edo period, ca. 1833 Seven woodblock-printed volumes illustrated by Utagawa Kuninao and Keisai Eisen.

A rare and beautifully illustrated Edo-period literary set by Tamenaga Shunsui, one of Japan’s most celebrated gesaku (popular fiction) authors. Published during the Tenpo era (ca. 1833), Teiso Fujin Hakken-shi — Eight Virtuous Women — presents moral and sentimental tales extolling feminine virtue, richly complemented by illustrations from two major figures of ukiyo-e design: Utagawa Kuninao and Keisai Eisen.

Printed on handmade mulberry paper in traditional fukuro-toji binding, this example comprises seven volumes (of a presumed ten), each with finely printed sumizuri-e illustrations and strong calligraphic text. The impression quality and paper tone confirm Edo-period production, not a later Meiji reprint. Several volumes bear the oval collector’s seal Mori-shi Zosho, “Library of Mr. Mori”, a known 19th-century scholarly collection later associated with the Mori Bunko archives, enhancing provenance.

Teiso Fujin Hakken-shi represents the confluence of Edo moral literature and ukiyo-e aesthetics, a testament to Japan’s late feudal culture of printed storytelling. Surviving multi-volume sets are increasingly scarce, particularly with early seals intact.

Publisher: likely Bunmando / Eirakudo, Edo
Date: Tenpo 4 (1833) 
Volumes: 7 (nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)
Dimensions: approx. 21.5 × 14.5 cm each 
Condition: Original fukuro-toji bindings with some wear, worming, and creasing consistent with age; interiors largely complete and well printed; collector’s seals visible on several volumes.