Ehon kasen shu (Picture-book of Immortal Poets) / Yatsushi sanju-rokkasen 略三十六歌仙

Ehon Kasen Shu, the Picture Book of Immortal Poets, also titled Yatsushi Sanju-Rokkasen, is by Chobunsai Eishi (1756-1829) and preserved in the British Museum (registration AN00060587). The book, a printed volume rather than a single sheet, presents the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets recast as fashionable contemporary beauties, applying the yatsushi convention across an entire codex rather than a single design. Each poet is represented on a page by a bijin in Eishi's elongated style, with a cartouche giving the original poet's name and, in many cases, the relevant verse. The book is a comprehensive demonstration of Eishi's Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) and Kano-trained [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) idiom across multiple pages, and as such it documents both the breadth of his classical literary engagement and the consistency of his figural type. The British Museum's impression preserves the binding and many of the printed pages, allowing the volume to be read as it was designed to be experienced. The palette throughout is restrained, with muted colors and a careful calligraphic line that recalls Eishi's training in samurai-house painting; the kimono patterning differs from page to page, providing the principal visual variety. As a printed book the volume occupies an interesting position between commercial ukiyo-e and refined ehon production, and the British Museum's holding is regularly cited as a key example of Eishi's literary output. Considered alongside Furyu Ryaku Rokkasen and the single-sheet poetic-immortal series held at the Honolulu Museum of Art, the book consolidates Eishi's reputation as a designer whose classicizing tastes carried into virtually every category of his work.