An Illustrated Mirror of Hawking

The Ehon Taka Kagami

Kawanabe Kyōsai, Karl-Heinz Gersmann, John Goodell , Keiya Nakajima

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English

Miscellaneous
01 August 2025

Animals & nature in art (still life, landscapes & seascapes)

Kawanabe Kyosai (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. Kyosai 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 Kyosai, the history of Japanese falconry, and the origins of this unique publication.

AUTHOR: Kawanabe Kyosai (18311889) is a globally celebrated artist and among the most talented painters of 19th Century Japan. Karl-Heinz Gersmann is a German master falconer and a renowned expert of falconry literature and history. For over 40 years, he amassed the largest and most significant private collection of falconry books and manuscripts known in the world now residing at The Archives of Falconry. Keiya Nakajima is a falconer and Executive Director of The Japan Falconiformes Center, and served the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey as Vice President for Asia. Alain Briot is a French medical doctor and an expert in Japanese art and language. Alain holds a diploma in Japanese language from the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations and is a member of the Japanese Society for the History of Medicine. Sadamura Koto is the Curator of the Israel Goldman Collection, London, and a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Asia at the British Museum since 2016.

SELLING POINTS: .

Kyosai's fascinating publication on the ancient art of Japanese falconry, the Ehon Taka Kagami, is reproduced for the first time with full English translations

132 colour illustrations

By: Kawanabe Kyōsai
Contributions by: Keiya Nakajima, Alain Briot
Edited by: Karl-Heinz Gersmann, John Goodell
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 229mm,
ISBN: 9798987929377
Pages: 164
Publication Date: 01 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889) is a globally celebrated artist and among the most talented painters of 19th Century Japan. Karl-Heinz Gersmann is a falconer, historian, and collector based in Germany. John Goodell is Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Archives of Falconry in Boise, Idaho. Keiya Nakajima is a falconer and Executive Director of The Japan Falconiformes Center, and served the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey as Vice President for Asia. Alain Briot is a French medical doctor and an expert in Japanese art and language. Alain holds a diploma in Japanese language from the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations and is a member of the Japanese Society for the History of Medicine. Sadamura Koto is the Curator of the Israel Goldman Collection, London, and a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Asia at the British Museum since 2016. Distributed for The Archives of Falconry