Japanese Woodblock Print Book

Blue robe, black obi, and a crowd of small red flames overhead.

This woodblock print book, Samurai Stories, E-Hon Format, is from Japan and dates to the Meiji Period. It is ink, by an unknown artist. Illustrated e-hon of the period mixed warrior tales with domestic and supernatural scenes, often borrowed from the theater. Here a woman in a blue kimono with white blossoms gathers her patterned underrobe as she walks through a field of flowers. Her hair is piled high with combs and pins. A red cartouche at upper right holds the title, and stitching runs along the right edge. It is 4.7 inches wide and 7 high.

She walks as though the flames are someone else's problem.