A truly unique survival in the entire world of Edo-period shunga.
 
Artist: Koikawa Shōzan (恋川笑山, 1821–1907)
Date: Bunkyū era, 1st year 1861)
Title: Shunjō Asakusa Meisho (Springtime Famous Places in Asakusa)
Format: Color woodblock-printed shunga books (ehon), 2 volumes
 
In more than twenty years of specializing in Japanese erotic art, I have never encountered another shunga book by any artist incorporating original functional shikake-e (toy-print) mechanisms.  Nor have I found another recorded example in the trade.  As such, these volumes may represent a unique surviving fusion of Edo-period shunga book and mechanical toy print.
 
The books measure 22.2 cm x 15.2 cm closed and have a total of 17 total pages of exceptional shunga artwork, with 2 of them being interactive trick pictures.  The remaining pages are kanji text pages.  The condition is decent with browning on some pages, dye marking on some top borders, and wormage to note of, although it is predominantly on the white borders and not the shunga artwork itself.  Although condition issues are present, the rarity and unusual nature of these volumes more than compensate for their imperfections.  Please see and judge from the photos provided.
 
These are not ordinary fold-outs, hidden panoramic shunga trick pictures inside - which is the norm for picture books.   On the contrary, bound directly into the volumes are two fully functional shikake-e toy-print mechanisms — interactive moving shunga pictures integrated into the actual shunga books themselves.
 
That is the surprising point to these two volumes: shikake-e erotic toy prints are known as separate, standalone works, but shunga books containing original working toy-print mechanisms are unheard of — they simply do not appear within the shunga genre.  In more than twenty years of specializing in shunga, I have never encountered another example by any artist or publisher, nor have I located a comparable example in the trade.
 
These two volumes therefore stand as a one-of-a-kind fusion of shunga ehon (picture books) and mechanical shikake-e — an exceptional, unique Edo-period object created either as a special commission for a wealthy patron or as an extraordinarily limited deluxe production.
 
Whatever their original purpose, these volumes survive today as one of the most unusual shunga book sets I have encountered, combining the worlds of erotic art, bookmaking, and mechanical shikake-e in a manner rarely, if ever, seen.