Japanese Crepe-paper Books
  • Home
  • Overview
  • Our Collection
    • Annotation: The Matsuyama Mirror
    • Annotation: Kachi-Kachi Mountain
    • Annotation: The Fisherboy Urashima
  • Technical Process
    • Student Story: Momidai Construction
    • Student Story: Japanese Binding
  • Timeline
  • Social Network
  • Maps
    • Essay: On the Value of Mapping
  • Library Exhibition
  • Our Team
  • Bibliography
Select Page

Suzuki Kason

Return to Full Collection

Suzuki Kason, sometimes romanized as Kwason or Kwasson, was born in Tokyo as the son of an Edo kimono merchant. He undertook artistic artistic training in nihonga at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and studied woodblock printing under the tutelage of master sōsaku hanga printer Hiratsuka Un’ichi. He began working on crepe-paper books with Hasegawa Takejirō in 1887 beginning with My Lord Bag-O’-Rice. By 1893, Suzuki was part of Hasegawa’s stable team along with Arai Yoshimune and Mishima Shōsō. His style is known for his delicate linework and color, especially his use of bokashi gradient. In the 1890s, he produced some newspaper illustrations for Hochi Shinbun and a print for the English-language book Hana, A Daughter of Japan (1904). Despite this success, he worked primarily as a painter. A member of the Japan Art Institute since 1898, he received recognition at the first and third Bunten exhibitions (1907 and 1909, respectively), as well as the 1910 Japanese-British Exposition.

14. The Princes Fire-Flash and Fire-Fade
14. The Princes Fire-Flash and Fire-Fade

Hasegawa Takejirō, Kate James, Kobayashi Eitaku, Suzuki Kason

15. My Lord Bag-‘O-Rice
15. My Lord Bag-‘O-Rice

Basil Hall Chamberlain, Nishinomiya Yosaku, Suzuki Kason

17. Schippeitaro
17. Schippeitaro

Kate James, Nishinomiya Yosaku, Suzuki Kason

Box Set 1. The Boy Who Drew Cats
Box Set 1. The Boy Who Drew Cats

Hasegawa Takejirō, Lafcadio Hearn, Suzuki Kason

Box Set 2. The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling
Box Set 2. The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling

Hasegawa Takejirō, Lafcadio Hearn, Suzuki Kason

Box Set 3. Chin Chin Kobakama
Box Set 3. Chin Chin Kobakama

Arai Yoshimune, Hasegawa Takejirō, Lafcadio Hearn, Suzuki Kason

Box Set 4. The Goblin Spider
Box Set 4. The Goblin Spider

Hasegawa Takejirō, Lafcadio Hearn, Suzuki Kason