Kawanabe Kyōsai (pen name Kawanabe Tôiku) is a globally celebrated 19th century Japanese artist with an astonishing repertoire of styles and artistic themes. His woodcut print picture book on falconry, Ehon Taka Kagami (The Mirror of Hawking), first published in 1863, remains relatively unknown among his modern admirers. Nonetheless, An Illustrated Mirror of Hawking is an invaluable record of an ancient art. Kyōsai was commissioned by a retired daimyo (feudal lord) to create studies depicting traditional Japanese falconry, which may have inspired the illustrated plates of the An Illustrated Mirror of Hawking. He added explanatory script to caption most plates, as well as stories, poems, and songs chronicling falconry and celebrating nature. This edition provides the first proper translation of the Ehon Taka Kagami, revealing the meaning of the words accompanying each plate to non-Japanese readers. In addition to fully reprinting the original images and texts, this edition includes contextual essays and reference images that provide important background information about Kyōsai, the history of Japanese falconry, and the origins of this unique publication.
