Kyuroku-kai Nanga Exhibition Catalogue, Kobe 1930 (Showa 5) — Tomie Unrei and Circle; 九六會南畫展出品畫

Title: 九六會南畫展出品畫 (Kyuroku-kai Nanga-ten Shuppinga)
Translation: Catalogue of Paintings Exhibited at the Kyuroku Society Nanga Exhibition
Organizer / principal figure: Tomie Unrei (富家雲嶺)
Imprint: Kyuroku-kai, Kobe, Showa 5 (1930). Exhibition dates: 23–25 December 1930 at Kobe Mitsukoshi.

Description

Original interwar Japanese exhibition catalogue documenting a Nanga (Southern School literati) show organized by the Kyuroku-kai in Kobe. The catalogue commemorates the society’s December 1930 exhibition held at Kobe Mitsukoshi, with Tomie Unrei as leading figure. Includes an introductory portrait of Unrei, a group photograph of Kyuroku-kai members, lists of works, and a substantial series of photographic plates reproducing the paintings shown — landscapes, figure subjects such as Daruma and Kannon, Buddhist themes, birds-and-flowers, and seasonal motifs.

Artists represented include Takai Hakurei, Kitauchi Senpō, Kinoshita Hōun, Kondō Shōhō, Saitō Tōen, Shaku Unshō, and many others. Such catalogues were issued in very small numbers for participants and visitors and are seldom preserved.

• Format: Traditional Japanese volume with cloth ties to side, in decorative paper wrappers with onlaid title slip

• Pagination: Prelims and lists + approx. 77 full-page plates (collotype-style black-and-white)

• Language: Japanese

• Provenance mark: Kyuroku-kai office imprint to Kobe (as printed)

• Approx. size: about 225mm high x 152mm wide x 12mm deep

• Weight: c. 304g

Condition

• Wrappers rubbed with edge wear and small losses; title slip with old staining and paste-marks.

• Spine cloth largely absent and lower corner of rear cover is worn and nibbled with losses to decorative paper.

• Binding sound.

• Text and plates generally clean with mild toning and scattered foxing; occasional light marginal spots and a few lower-margin stains. Images remain sharp and well printed.

• Discrete pencil notes on a few plate captions identifying subjects.

Significance

The Kyuroku-kai was a Kansai-based association active in the Taisho and early Showa eras, promoting the Nanga literati tradition. Their catalogues provide valuable documentation of interwar Japanese painting networks and the Nanga revival movement. Early photographic catalogues of regional exhibitions survive only rarely.