YABODENAI: A CURIOUS BOOK ON JAPANESE HYGIENE BY MINIATURE & TINY "ENCHANTED" MY
23027501Japan 1630's. Stiff white Washi wrapsover 5 double-folded leaves = 10 pages 4 double-page 1 single-page woodblock illustrations laid down on Washi backing paper 12 x 16.8 cm. Japanese text rebound 3 small stains else solid.RARE . . . A CHARMING MID-17TH CENTURY ILLUSTRATED HYGIENE TEXT . . . DONE IN A CHARMING STYLE USING MINIATURE PEOPLE . . . TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE AND SERVICE . . . TO THE NORMAL & LARGE SIZED JAPANESE . . THE TITLE: YABODENAI: Exceptionally hard to read exact title: The work lacks a title page we are reading what appears on the 'hashira title' much is guess work all quite unclear information. . An imaginative work illustrating how 'enchanted' miniature people magically clean the giant size Japanese how they labor to do the things that normal-size people ignore neglect and avoid. . The work is of semi-medical & hygienic value as it charmingly illustrates typical hygiene needed to keep the human body functioning along clean and socially accepted. . THE ILLUSTRATIONS: Normal large size Japanese humans are "serviced" by miniature enchanted people who do maintenance on the body and take care of hygiene and clean the body. . 1. CLEANING SMELLY MOUTH: Four tiny Japanese coolies clean engage in cleaning operation of the mouth. Two coolies use brushes to clean teeth; the left coolie uses a hand brush to his right another man uses a long bamboo pole and brush to reach the reach other teeth. Two other coolies are working with wooden water-filled buckets the left one rinse the teeth the other carries three other buckets and a long brush. A single-page illustration. . 2. WASHING AND SHAVING HAIR: A large man holds a tray to catch hair trimmings by three miniature people: two women and a many 'harvest' hair with the same kind of scythe used to cut rice from the fields and throw it down into the tray. Three other miniature men operate a wooden water pump typically used by firemen to send a spray of water to the top of the large man's head. A double-page illustration. . 3. A large man is having his Chon mage traditional topknot haircut worn by men tied by a team of six miniature people. From the left a winch is placed on the large man's right shoulder where two coolies wrench tight the silk cord to tie the topknot in place. The opposite end of the cord in also being winched down by two other coolies while the large man holds this apparatus in his left hand. At the top a woman guides the silk cord while being pulled tight. A second woman is perched on the large man's left ear while she combs hair to the back. . The large man casually smokes his Kiseru long tobacco pipe. A double-page illustration. . 4. EAR CLEANING: Right-hand page: a team of four miniature men are working to clean the ears of a large man. Three are coolies another is the 'supervisor-merchant' who dresses in a Kimono. The two coolies use a pick and hoe to loosen and remove the ear wax while the supervisor looks on. A third coolie hauls out the refuse was in two baskets on a shoulder yoke. . Left-hand page shows a scene of two large humans on their knees from inside the house peering down at a group of tiny miniature people's gathering showing six men and women just near where shoes are left outside the house. A double-page illustration. . 5. Two large men watch at the seashore while a sailing boat loaded with miniature people are moored on the beach. It looks like these enchanted miniature people are preparing to leave the world of the large people and return to their own enchanted kingdom. A double-page illustration. . 6. The 10th last page is blank as issued. . The Japanese text is adjacent to the illustrations and worked throughout giving a running narrative of the activities illustrated. . CONDITION: The work has been reinforced in the distance past by using white Washi paper to insert between each page laid down to give the thin paper backing and firmness. There is no title page nor colophon. We derived the title from the Hashira page edges which clearly show the title. . The lower right and left corners are torn away on leaves 12 & 6 about 2.5 x 1.4 cm. The lower edge of on leaves 4 & 5 are partially torn away with a few holes on leaves 4-5 & the back cover but of very minimal impact on the illustrations they are just above and below the rule line and margins. . NOTE: Please review the photos posted to our website. about six all pages. . . unknown
