“Kagenen’s Flower and Bird Painting Manual” is a celebrated work by Japanese flower and bird painter Kagenen (今尾景年), commissioned by the renowned woodblock watermarker Nishimura. With a focus on the blossoms of each season, Kagenen executed a series of sketches capturing the beauty of nature, which he complemented with dynamic depictions of birds. The manual is divided into four sections—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—with each section containing 40 paintings, totaling 160 artworks.
This edition was published during Meiji 24–25 (1891–1892) using a five-color woodblock printing process. The subjects illustrated in this work are extraordinarily diverse; its precision in form far exceeds that of the “Kaizien Garden Painting Manual,” and its vividness surpasses even the renowned “Huang Chuan’s Sketches of Rare Birds.” Once regarded as a secret reference book by some early twentieth-century painters for their flower and bird studies, it has profoundly influenced many distinguished Chinese flower and bird painters of the twentieth century. Today, it remains an indispensable resource for the study and appreciation of flower and bird art.
