Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
Two page illustration from an ehon of Chapter 21 of the Hokusetsu bidan jidai kagami ('Uplifting Tale of Northern Snows' Mirror of the Ages -北雪美談時代加々見)
ca 1856
Waseda University Library - large selection of part of this ehon;
Waseda University Library - another copy of this illustration Published by Sanoya Kihei (Kikaudō) between 1856-75. The author is Tamenaga Shinsui (1818-86).
Yoshitora also helped illustrate this series.
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Izumi Kyōka (泉鏡花: 1873-1939), a major early 20th author of gothic-like tales, remembered fondly that as a young boy his mother had a collection of The Tale of Shiranui (the Shiranui monogatari) and The Northern Snows, A Gorgeous Tale and Mirror of Our Times (the Hokusetsu bidan jidai kagami). Whenever he was alone and his mother wasn't close by, Kyōka would sneak these kuzasōshi out of the box where they were stored for safety. He would lay them out on the floor and look at the illustrations, because he was still too young to read them. Then he would wonder about the background stories behind the images and eventually would ask his mother to tell him what they were.
This information was provided by The Similitude of Blossoms: A Critical Biography of Izumi Kōyka (1873-1939), Japanese Novelist and Playwright by Charles Shiro Inouye, page 14.
picture book (ehon - 絵本) (genre)
Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛) (publisher)