A collection of Nagasaki colour prints and paintings
Subtitle: showing the influence of Chinese and European art on that of Japan
Publisher: Charles E. Tuttle Co.
Published: 1979
Place of publication: Rutland, Vt.; Tokyo
Format: Hardcover
Description: "This is a breath-taking one volume reprint of famous Nagasaki colour prints and paintings first published in a two volume set by N. H. N. Mody in 1939.  It contains 25 resplendent full colour plates and 225 black-and-white gravure plates. It contains the finest Nagasaki paintings, prints, maps and other art objects showing the great influence of China and the West on Japanese art.
Having a favourable geographic position, including one of the most picturesque harbours in the world, Nagasaki in the 17th century was a fertile field for a new and exciting school of art.  Chinese painters, lured to exotic Nagasaki, took with them an unusual kind of painting with a "delicate technique of realistic tendency," as noted in the 'Index of Japanese Painters' (Tuttle, 1958).
Under this influence, the Nagasaki school was born.  European influences were also at work in the 17th and 18th centuries and these further enhanced the realistic tendency of the school.  It follows that these prints, so excellent in themselves, are also of vast historical importance.
Subjects of the early Nagasaki paintings were mostly religious in nature, and at first the Jesuits and other foreign missionaries were well treated.  The authorities were suspicious of anything connected with the Christian religion, and eventually the missionaries were accused of interfering in the internal affairs of the country.  Finally, the Shogunate termed them a danger to the country and expelled them, a ban exemplified by the notice-board (Plate 203) which prohibited Christianity and invited the exposure of Christians by informers.  The Dutch and Chinese. however, were allowed to stay in Nagasaki; thus the school was able to continue and even thrive.
General subjects of this new school naturally concerned the port of Nagasaki. Dutch and Chinese shipping, as well as the 
numerous interesting visitors to the Dutch and Chinese factories. Portrayed are camels, birds, elephants and other animals imported into the city by the Chinese and Dutch.
The rarity and artistic significance of this unusual collection is highlighted by the fact that during the eradication of  Japanese Christians, paintings in oil suffered a similar eclipse.  Authorities generally agree that "no Japanese oil painting executed between 1650 and 1750 is known to have survived...the art of the oil painting was not revived until the end of the 18th century."
The paintings in this brilliant collection might be termed the result of a single artistic creation - that of the Chinese and Japanese.  There can be no doubt that the Nagasaki school made an invaluable contribution to the technical development of Japanese painting - transformed its techniques until the art became a true expression of native Japanese genius."
Adapted from dust jacket.
Table of contents: title: xi
label: Foreword to the new edition; title: xv
label: Preface; title: xvii
label: List of illustrations; label: Introduction; title: xxvii
label: (1) Nagasaki-ye; title: xxx
label: (2) Paintings of the Nagasaki and other schools; title: following the introduction
label: The plates with their descriptions; title: xxxiii
label: Index