Japanese Natural-History Study of Insects Meiji Period

An unusual Japanese natural-history print presenting a variety of insects in six neatly divided sections. Among the subjects are silkworms feeding on mulberry leaves, grasshoppers or crickets, fireflies, bees, flies and other familiar insect species, each identified in Japanese script. The boxed character 五 at lower left indicates plate or page number five.

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. The direct, lively draughtsmanship preserves the character of traditional Japanese book illustration while reflecting the period’s growing interest in systematic scientific observation.

An earlier collector’s handwritten annotation attributes the sheet to “Gyosai,” presumably Kawanabe Kyōsai, but we could not confirm any link. It may also come from an early natural-history teaching manual such as Hakubutsu Kyōjūhō, published in the 1870s.

Japan, late 19th or early 20th century.
Black-and-white print on thin Japanese paper.
Sheet size: 16 x 22 cm