Title: Nanso Satomi Hakkenden, 19th Century
Author: Kyokutei Bakin; Yanagawa Shigenobu, Keisai Eisen, Utagawa Sadahide
Condition: Very Good-Good
An early Meiji Period and late 19th century edition of the Bakin’s complete Nanso Satomi Hakkenden, otherwise known as The Eight Dog Chronicles. This is the compete work, comprising of Parts One to Nine, in 106 individually bound volumes.
Bakin’s weaves a tale of eight young warriors, bound by a connection to another world between the Princess Fuse, of the Satomi clan in Awa, and the dog of kami Yatsufusa. The tale itself is set in the Muromachi period, several hundred years before the author’s birth. Though each of the brothers are born in a different province of the Kanto region, their bonds deepen between each other through their various experiences and struggles, and they gather under the banner of the Satomi clan, with the tale cumulating in tremendous battles against enemy lords. Loyalty, bushido, Confucianism, and Buddhist philosophy serve as core components to the tale.
The complete chronicles themselves are a 106-volume masterpiece, taking a 28-year period to complete from 1814 to 1842, and is considered one of the great classics of Japanese novels.
There are hundreds of woodblocks illustrations throughout, featuring harrowing battles, mystical creatures, and much more. The illustrations are by Yanagawa Shigenobu, Keisai Eisen, and Utagawa Sadahide, famed ukiyo-e artists of the 19th century.
106 volumes in quarto
These volumes are in very good to good shape, with some rubbing and wear to the bindings, a bit heavier to roughly a third of the volumes. Some of the pages are worn. Most of the volumes have a slight curve to them.