Bibliography

The Research Journey

Scholarship on crepe-paper books, or chirimen-bon, tends to rely on the same few sources, such as Frederic Sharf’s seminal volume on Hasegawa Takejirō.

While works like these are important, we have tried to include many more voices and resources to make our research more complete. This includes the work of several researchers in Japan who are actively working on the medium.

Below, you can filter our bibliography by general topic to find what you are looking for. We hope that our research helps other scholars interested in crepe-paper books or the fascinating network of people involved in their production.

General Resources in English

CREPE-PAPER BOOKS

Franci, Riccardo. Takejiro: e le fiabe giapponesi del Museo Stibbert [Takejiro: and the Japanese Fairy Tales of the Stibbert Museum]. Livorno, Italy: Sillabe, 2008.

Guth, Christine M. E. “Hasegawa’s Fairy Tales: Toying with Japan.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, no. 53/54 (2008): 266–81.

Herring, Ann King. “Early Translations of Japanese Fairy-Tales and Children’s Literature.” Phaedrus 13 (1988): 97–112.

Otsuka, Nanae, Mayako Murai, and Shi-Lin Loh. “A Souvenir of Japan: The Crêpe-Paper Book ”Japanese Fairy Tale Series” in the Late 19th Century from the Special Collection of Kanagawa University Library” (2017)

Sharf, Frederic A. Takejiro Hasegawa: Meiji Japan’s Preeminent Publisher of Wood-Block-Illustrated Crepe-Paper Books. Vol. 130. Peabody Essex Museum Collections 4. Salem, Mass: Peabody Essex Museum, 1994.

Tokuda, Kazuo.“Cultural Messages from 1885: Chirimen Books That Spread to Europe: Japanese Fairy Tales Series” (1885年の文化発信). The Gakushuin Journal of International Studies 4 (March 2017): 35–51.

GENERAL HISTORY

Altman, Albert A. “The Press.” In Japan in Transition, from Tokugawa to Meiji. Edited by Marius B. Jansen and Gilbert Rozman, vol. 83. Princeton University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400854301.

Stalker, Nancy K. “Edo Popular Culture The Floating World and Beyond: Late 17th to Mid-19th Centuries.” In Japan: History and Culture from Classical to Cool. University of California Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520962835.

Stalker, Nancy K. “Facing and Embracing the West, 1850s-1900.” In Japan: History and Culture from Classical to Cool. University of California Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520962835.

General Resources in Japanese

CREPE-PAPER BOOKS (GENERAL)

Harada, Noriyuki, Masao Kurosaki, and Yuko Kondō. [“An Integrated Study of Chirimen-bon (Crepe-paper Books) from the Perspectives of Morphology, the History of Publishing Culture, and the Theory of Representational Culture”] (形態論、出版文化史、表象文化論からみた縮緬本の統合的研究). Annals of the Institute for Comparative Studies of Culture, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University 82 (2021), 1-47.

Hasegawa, Takejirō. “Export of Woodblock Prints” (木版画の輸出). Bijutsu shinpō (美術新報) 13, no. 3 (January 1914), 26-30.

Herring, Ann. “The Dawn of International Publishing – Meiji Western Literature” (国際出版の曙－明治の欧文草双紙). Special Exhibition Crepe Books and Kusazōshi – Illustrated Japanese Books from the Late 19th Century (特別企画展ちりめん本と草双紙－19世紀後半の日本の絵入本). Fussa City Local Materials Room (October 1990), 1-44.

Ishizawa, Saeko. Meiji-period Illustrated Books in Western languages: All About Crepe Books (明治の欧文挿絵本 : ちりめん本のすべて). Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 2005.

Ozaki, Rumi. Japanese Fairy Tales: Wood-Block Illustrated Crepe-Paper Books of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) (ちりめん本ー海を渡った日本昔ばなし). Japanese translations by Nana Hamana. Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 2025.

Ozaki, Rumi. Japanese Fairy World by Lafcadio Hearn (ちりめん本ー小泉八雲のふしぎな昔話). Japanese translations by Nana Hamana. Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 2025.

Tajima, Kazuo. “The World of Chirimen Books” [ちりめん本の世界]. In Medieval Stories about Death and the View of Tales [中世往生伝説話の視界]. Tokyo: Kasama shoin, 2015.

CREPE-PAPER BOOKS (SPECIFIC)

Matsumura, Yūko and Maria Elena Tisi. [“On the Italian-language Editions of Crepe-paper Books”] (イタリア語版ちりめん本について). Studies of Research Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, Shirayuri University 27 (March 2024), 153-168.

Otsuka, Nanae. “From Myths to Heroic Tales – A Comparison of Retellings from the Kojiki by Chamberlain and Mrs. James in the Crepe Book Series ‘Japanese Old Tales’” (神話から英雄譚へ―ちりめん本「日本昔噺」シリーズにおけるチェンバレンとジェイムス夫人による『古事記』からの再話の比較―). Bulletin of the Institute for Humanities Research 80 (September 2023), 75-86.

Otsuka, Nanae. “Japanese Woodblock Illustrated Books in the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900: ―The Cultural Impact of L’école de village: Terakoya and Other Books in Europe―” (木版挿絵本のインパクト ―1900 年パリ万博に出品された「寺子屋」―). The Bulletin of the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies Nihon University 14 (2013), 13-19.

Ozaki, Rumi. “Background to the Birth of Kobunsha’s Chirimen Book Series “European Japanese Old Tales” – Collaboration between Hasegawa Takejiro, David Thompson, and Kobayashi Eitaku” (弘文社のちりめん本『欧文日本昔噺』シリーズ誕生の背景――長谷川武次郎・デイビッド・タムソン・小林永濯の協働). Studies of Research Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, Shirayuri University 23 (March 2020), 19-38.

Ozaki, Rumi. “Development of Hasegawa Takejiro’s Chirimen Book Publishing Activities: Until the “European Japanese Old Tales” Series Reached 20 Volumes” (長谷川武次郎のちりめん本出版活動の展開：『欧文日本昔噺』シリーズが20冊に達するまで). Studies of Research Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, Shirayuri University 25 (March 2022), 29-54.

Ozaki, Rumi. “From Kobunsha’s Chirimen Book Series “European Japanese Old Tales” Formation and Beginning of the “Western Old Stories” Series” (弘文社のちりめん本『欧文日本昔噺』シリーズの形成と『西洋昔噺』シリーズの開始). Studies of Research Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, Shirayuri University 24 (March 2021), 1-34.

Ozaki, Rumi. “Karl Florenz and Hasegawa Takejiro — Disseminating Japanese Poetry Overseas through Crepe Books” (弘文社のちりめん本『欧文日本昔噺』シリーズの形成と『西洋昔噺』シリーズの開始). Studies of Research Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, Shirayuri University 26 (March 2023), 57-99.

Ozaki, Rumi. “Research on B. H. Chamberlain’s Romanized Japanese Reader – Focusing on the Relationship with The Matsuyama Mirror and The Hare of Inaba in the Crepe Book ‘European Japanese Folk Tales” Series‘” (弘文社のちりめん本『欧文日本昔噺』シリーズの形成と『西洋昔噺』シリーズの開始). Studies of Research Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, Shirayuri University 27 (March 2024), 27-60.

Authors/Translator Biographies

BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN

Chamberlain, Basil Hall. Letters from Basil Hall Chamberlain to Lafcadio Hearn. Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1936.

Chamberlain, Basil Hall. More Letters from Basil Hall Chamberlain to Lafcadio Hearn and Letters From M. Toyama, Y. Tsubouchi and Others. Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1937.

Espinosa, José Pazó. “‘Cosas de Japón’ de Basil H. Chamberlain: ¿la Primera Guía Cultural Sobre Japón?” Mirai 1 (September 2017). https://doi.org/10.5209/mira.57105.

James, Grace. “Basil Hall Chamberlain. Born 1850, Died February 15, 1935.” In Japan Society London: Transactions and Proceedings, XXXII. The Japan Society London, 1935.

LAFCADIO HEARN

Blanck, Jacob. “Lafcadio Hearn.” In Bibliography of American Literature, 75–106. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955.

Hearn, Lafcadio. The Japanese Letters of Lafcadio Hearn. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1910.

Hearn, Lafcadio. The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn. Edited by Elizabeth Bisland. Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906.

Hearn, Lafcadio. Some New Letters and Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1925.

Koizumi, Setsuko. Reminiscences of Lafcadio Hearn. Houghton Mifflin, 1918.

Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum. “Koizumi Setsu—Living as Lafcadio Hearn’s Wife.” Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum. Accessed June 21, 2024. https://www.hearn-museum-matsue.jp/exhibition-setsu.html.

MRS. T. H. (KATE) JAMES

James, Grace. “Japanese Fairytales and Folklore.” In Japan Society London: Transactions and Proceedings, XXX:29–38. 42. London: The Japan Society London, 1932.

James, Grace. Japan: Recollections and Impressions. G. Allen & Unwin, 1936.

Koyama, Noboru. “Grace James (1882-1965) and Mrs T.H. (Kate) James (1845-1928): Writers of Children’s Stories.” In Britain & Japan Biographical Portraits, IX: 472–80. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, Renaissance Books, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781898823278.043.

DAVID THOMPSON

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “Guide to the David D. and Mary Parke Thompson Family Papers.” Accessed August 7, 2026. https://pcusa.org/historical-society/collections/research-tools/guides-archival-collections/rg-497.

JAMES CURTIS HEPBURN

Ion, Hamish. “James Curtis Hepburn and the Translation of the New Testament into Japanese: A Case Study of the Impact of China on Missions beyond Its Borders.” Social Sciences and Missions 27, no. 1 (2014): 56–85. ATLAn3798127. https://doi.org/10.1163/18748945-02701004.

GONZALO JIMENÉZ DE LA ESPADA (Spanish Versions)

“ー大学文書館戦後70年企画展東京外国語大学と戦時下の学生たち”[120 Years of Spanish Language Education at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies]. TUFS Archives. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2017.

Espinosa, José Pazó and V. David Almazán Tomás. “Gonzalo Jiménez de La Espada: A Meiji-Era Spanish Professor and Translator in Japan.” In Cultural Hybrids of (Post)Modernism: Japanese and Western Literature, Art and Philosophy. Edited by Beatriz Penas-Ibáñez and Akiko Manabe. Bern: Peter Lang, 2017.

Tomás, V. David Almazán. “Una joya bibliográfica hispano-japonesa: los cuentos y leyendas del Japón de Gonzalo Jiménez de la Espada editados como chirimen-bon por T. Hasegawa (Tokio, 1914).” Artigrama, no. 23 (December 2008): 781–801. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_artigrama/artigrama.2008237825.

SALVATORE FIORAVANTI CHIMENZ (Italian Versions)

Franci, Riccardo. Au Nippon: studio su Salvatore Chimenz : fra due secoli e due mondi. Trento: Edizioni del Faro, 2014.

Technical Processes

WOODBLOCK PRINTING PROCESS

Mokudez. “How to Make a Woodblock Print, Part 1: Designing.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXF5NnppPgA&t=1s. 6 Oct, 2022.

Mokudez. “Japanese Woodblock Print: ‘Lone Peak’ My Printing Process Start to Finish.” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxXa8RQ_5IE. 6 November, 2021.

Bull, David. “Ukiyoe Heroes (12): Fox Moon – carving the key block” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGe06AOy-Jg&t=47s. 13 October, 2012.

Vollmer, April. Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop: A Modern Guide to an Ancient Art. Watson-Guptill Publications, 2015.

Other

WEB DATABASES

Chirimen Crepe Books Database. International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken).

Digital Archive, Chirimen Crepe Book Collection. Institute for Comparative Studies of Culture, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University (2026).

CATALOGUES

“Collection Book List” from [Small Exhibition] Chirimen Books and International Exchange. Japan Foundation (May 2022).

Crepe-paper Books and Woodblock Prints at the Dawn of the Cultural Enlightenment in Japan. Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, The 60th Anniversary Rare Books Exhibition (2007).

Ishihara, Toshi. “Crepe Paper Books Owned by Kansai University Library” (関西大学図書館所蔵ちりめん本の整理). Bulletin of the Faculty of Foreign Studies 2 (March 2010), 49-72.

Otsuka, Nanae, Mayako Murai, and Shi-Lin Loh. A Souvenir of Japan: The Crêpe-Paper Book ”Japanese Fairy Tale Series” in the Late 19th Century from Kanagawa University Library. Kanagawa University Library, 2017.

BOOK/PRINT SELLERS

Bakumatsuya, “Japanese crepe paper books and related publications.”

George C. Baxley, “Takejiro Hasegawa/Kobunsha Publications “Chirimen-bon” (Crepe Paper Books) And Plain Paper Books,” Baxley Stamps.

Marc Kahn, “Hasegawa Takejiro and Nishinomiya Yosaku,” Shotei Gallery.

Japanese Creative Book Store, “Japanese Crepe Paper Books.”