Banshoku zukō

Banshoku zuko (Pictorial Designs for All Artisans) is a five-volume woodblock-printed book by Katsushika Taito II dated to the period of his activity, around 1810-53, and held by the Art Institute of Chicago. The title translates roughly as a pattern compendium for makers across many trades, and the book was aimed squarely at working craftsmen—lacquerers, metalsmiths, textile designers, sword-fitting makers—who would draw motifs from its pages for use in their own production. Pattern books of this kind were a significant publishing genre in the late Edo period, ranging from collections of family crests (mon) to specialized albums of flora, insects, and decorative borders. Taito II's five-volume Banshoku zuko sits in this tradition: each volume presents groups of motifs and small compositions organized for ready reference. The Art Institute holds the complete five-volume set, allowing the book's full scope to be studied. Its survival reflects the practical use to which such ehon were put—copies that circulated widely through Edo workshops were rarely kept in pristine condition, making the museum's example particularly valuable.