Japanese art

June 25, 2010 12:30 PM

Nichibunken Databases isn't a link that sounds promising, but oh, what a treasure trove of old Japanese art it is. Among the many lovely collections is the Japanese folktales in foreign languages, another has maps, which is probably easiest to browse by decade, then there's the picture scrolls (some nsfw), and also illustrations from an 1870s world tour. That's just a small taste of what's there. If, like me, you don't read Japanese, often you'll be going in with scant information of what will be on offer, but even random stumblings will reveal beauty and wonder. Just to get you started, here are nearly 800 pictures of demons and over 2500 floating world woodprints. [Note: Blue dots mean the material is accessible to the public, red dots mean you have to have a login to see it]
posted by Kattullus (10 comments total)

More illustrated books online not available here:

Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki

Japanese Fairy World by William Elliot Griffis

Thanks for this great link-- the crape-paper illustrations are unrivaled.
posted by shii at 12:36 PM on June 25, 2010

Nice! Just the thing to waste a long weekend on....
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:53 PM on June 25, 2010

The last link in the post isn't working.
FIFM, please?

(this is cool.)
posted by merelyglib at 1:24 PM on June 25, 2010

Oh hey, so it doesn't. Okay, go here, click the bottom of the two brown buttons. On the next page, click the brown button on the left.
posted by Kattullus at 1:31 PM on June 25, 2010

This is wonderful. Thank you!
posted by mkim at 5:19 PM on June 25, 2010

Excellent, thanks Kattallus!
posted by carter at 6:29 PM on June 25, 2010

Thanks for another wonderful post Kattullus.
posted by Sailormom at 6:56 PM on June 25, 2010

Very neat!
posted by Vindaloo at 3:23 AM on June 26, 2010

Absolutely top-notch post, thank you.
posted by Quantum's Deadly Fist at 7:22 AM on June 26, 2010

Oh, this is great. Yes, off to the demon pictures with me ...
posted by Amanojaku at 12:54 PM on June 26, 2010