Illustrated Collection of the Famous Products of Japan (Nihon meibutsu gasan shū) 日本名物画賛集

Illustrated Collection of the Famous Products of Japan (Nihon meibutsu gasan shu), dated to around the 1820s and held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a woodblock-printed book by Katsushika Taito II that surveys the regional specialty products (meibutsu) of Japan. Meibutsu—items associated with a specific province, town, or temple—were a major preoccupation of Edo-period Japanese culture: travelers along the Tokaido and other highways collected meibutsu food and craft items as souvenirs, and dozens of guidebooks listed and illustrated the most celebrated examples. Taito II's contribution to the genre pairs each product with an illustration and accompanying inscription (gasan), giving the book the character of a learned anthology rather than a strict travel guide. The Metropolitan Museum's holding documents an important strand of Taito II's book work outside the Art Institute's heavily surimono-focused collection, and the book's combination of image and inscription reflects the close ties between kyoka poetry culture and illustrated commercial publishing in the 1820s.