Japanese natural-history study of insects, Meiji era (1868-1912)

This unusual Japanese woodblock print shows a variety of insects in exquisite line drawings that are laid out in six neatly divided sections.

Among the bugs on display: fireflies, silkworms feeding on mulberry leaves, crickets, bees, and flies.

Some of them are identified in Japanese script, while the written character “五” on the lower, left-hand side of the sheet indicates this plate’s or page’s number — five — in a book or series of prints.

Probably produced as an educational illustration during the Meiji period, when printed charts and textbooks were increasingly used to introduce natural history in Japanese schools, this well-preserved sheet reflects the period’s growing interest in systematic scientific observation and study.

An earlier collector’s handwritten annotation attributes this sheet to “Gyosai”; this name might refer to Kawanabe Kyōsai, but this proposed association cannot be confirmed. This fine printed piece might come from an early, natural-history teaching manual such as the Hakubutsu Kyōjūhō (Treasured Items of Natural-History Teaching), which was published in the 1870s.