Bibliography

The literature on Yabu Meizan is small but distinguished. It runs from the great Khalili catalogues of the 1990s, through Louis Lawrence’s two studies of Satsuma, to the archival research now coming from the Osaka Museum of History. Entries marked as verified have been checked against a library or publisher record for title, author, publisher and, where one exists, ISBN or DOI. Entries known so far only through citation in other works carry the label “Known only through citation”.

Key references

Impey and Fairley, Meiji no Takara, Ceramics Part Two (1995)

Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley’s catalogue of earthenwares in the Khalili Collection includes a biography of Meizan by Yamazaki Tsuyoshi and covers 171 works by Meizan and related makers. It is the core published reference.1

Louis Lawrence, Satsuma: Masterpieces from the World’s Important Collections (1991)

Published by Dauphin Publishing in co-operation with Spink & Son, with English and Japanese text. Lawrence’s first Satsuma book included biographies of makers and photographs of their marks, and long served collectors as a standard guide.2

Louis Lawrence, Satsuma: The Romance of Japan (2011)

Lawrence’s second study has a directory of more than 300 photographed signatures. According to its publisher, it also includes a contemporary account of a visit to Meizan’s studio in 1891.3

Nakano Tomoko, Osaka Museum of History Research Bulletin (2019–2025)

A series of articles in Japanese by the museum’s curator. They cover Meizan’s personal record, his use of copper plates for transfer underdrawings, his relationship with the dealer Hirase Yoichirō, and his stay in Tokyo in 1880. They underpin much of the recent revision of his biography.4

Itani Yoshie (2020, 2022)

Two open-access articles in English: one on the studio’s copperplate landscape designs, the other comparing the Meizan holdings of the Heisei Memorial Art Gallery and the Khalili Collection.5

Joe Earle, Splendors of Meiji (1999) and Splendors of Imperial Japan (2002)

Exhibition catalogues drawn from the Khalili Collection that place Meizan within the wider Meiji decorative arts.6,7

The people behind the literature

Full bibliography

8 of the 15 entries are marked as verified (count as of 21 October 2026): their title, author and ISBN or DOI have been checked against a library or publisher record. The other 7 are confirmed through citation in reliable sources and are being checked further.

  1. Image: Cover © Arnoldsche Art Publishers · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Gisela Jahn (2004). Meiji Ceramics: The Art of Japanese Export Porcelain and Satsuma Ware 1868–1912. Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-89790-197-8 Verified
  2. Image: First page, open-access PDF · OUKA, Osaka University · Open-access article; first-page render reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) · Source
    Itani Yoshie (2020). The Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan: Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate. Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, no. 3. Link (external site) Verified
  3. Image: First page, open-access PDF · OUKA, Osaka University · Open-access article; first-page render reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) · Source
    Itani Yoshie (2022). The Glorious World of Yabu Meizan: Comparing the Heisei Memorial Art Gallery and Khalili Collections. Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, no. 4. Link (external site) Verified
  4. Image: Cover © Broughton International · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Joe Earle (1999). Splendors of Meiji: Treasures of Imperial Japan. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection. Broughton International, St Petersburg, Florida. ISBN 1-874780-13-7 Verified
  5. Image: Cover © Khalili Family Trust · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Joe Earle (2002). Splendors of Imperial Japan: Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection. Khalili Family Trust, London. ISBN 978-1-874780-19-9 Verified
  6. Image: Cover © Arcadia Publishing / The History Press · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    John Launius (2020). The Life and Times of Missouri’s Charles Parsons: Between Art and War. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-6907-5 Known only through citation
  7. Image: Cover © Dauphin Publishing · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Louis Lawrence (1991). Satsuma: Masterpieces from the World’s Important Collections. Dauphin Publishing, Oxford, in co-operation with Spink & Son (US issue: Art Media Resources, 1992). ISBN 978-1-872357-04-1 Link (external site) Verified
  8. Image: Cover © Meiji Satsuma Publications · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Louis Lawrence; introduction by Gisela Jahn; photography by Mark Lawrence; edited by Morven Gray (2011). Satsuma: The Romance of Japan. Meiji Satsuma Publications (title verso); listed by AbeBooks and CA Design as CA Design, Hong Kong. ISBN 978-962-7502-79-1 Link (external site) Verified
  9. Image: Title page, vol. 1 (1898), public domain · Internet Archive · Public domain (published 1898); image from Internet Archive scan · Source
    Michael Tomkinson (1898). A Japanese Collection. London (2 vols.). Known only through citation
  10. Image: First page © Osaka Museum of History · J-STAGE · Not openly licensed; first page / cover of the Osaka Museum of History bulletin reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Nakano Tomoko (2019). Yabu Masashichi / Meizan Personal Record (Japanese). Osaka Museum of History Research Bulletin, vol. 17, pp. 61–72. Known only through citation
  11. Image: First page © Osaka Museum of History · J-STAGE · Not openly licensed; first page / cover of the Osaka Museum of History bulletin reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Nakano Tomoko (2021). ‘Ceramic Painter’ Yabu Meizan and His Artistic Practice: The Transfer Technique Using Copper Plates for Underdrawings (Japanese). Osaka Museum of History Research Bulletin, vol. 19, pp. 19–38. Known only through citation
  12. Image: First page © Osaka Museum of History · J-STAGE · Not openly licensed; first page / cover of the Osaka Museum of History bulletin reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Nakano Tomoko (2022). Yabu Meizan and the Satsuma Ware Dealer Hirase Yoichirō (Japanese). Osaka Museum of History Research Bulletin, vol. 20, pp. 1–19. Known only through citation
  13. Image: Cover, Research Bulletin no. 23 © Osaka Museum of History · Not openly licensed; first page / cover of the Osaka Museum of History bulletin reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Nakano Tomoko (2025). Yabu Meizan in March 1880 (Japanese). Osaka Museum of History Research Bulletin, vol. 23, pp. 27–42. Known only through citation
  14. Image: Cover © RoutledgeCurzon · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Olive Checkland (2003). Japan and Britain after 1859: Creating Cultural Bridges. RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 978-1-135-78619-9 Known only through citation
  15. Image: Cover © Kibo Foundation · Not openly licensed; publisher cover reproduced as a small credited thumbnail (max 400 px) at the owner's direction · Source
    Oliver Impey; Malcolm Fairley; biography of Yabu Meizan by Yamazaki Tsuyoshi (1995). Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan. Ceramics, Part Two: Earthenware. Kibo Foundation, London. ISBN 978-1-874780-06-9 Link (external site) Verified

Some titles circulating online under Meizan’s name could not be traced to any library, publisher or museum record, and are not listed here. If you can supply details of a publication we have missed, please contact us.

Notes and sources

  1. Khalili Collections, Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan. Ceramics, Part Two: Earthenware (Impey and Fairley, 1995). www.khalilicollections.org/portfolio/meiji-no-takara-treasures-of-imperial-japan-ceramics-part-two-earthenware
  2. AbeBooks bibliographic record, Louis Lawrence, Satsuma: Masterpieces from the World’s Important Collections (1991). www.abebooks.co.uk/9781872357041/Satsuma-Masterpieces-Worlds-Important-Collections-1872357040/plp
  3. AbeBooks bibliographic record, Louis Lawrence, Satsuma: The Romance of Japan (2011). www.abebooks.com/9789627502791/Satsuma-Romance-Japan-Louis-Lawrence-9627502790/plp
  4. Satsuma-database, “The Meizan Studio (1880–1941): Yabu Meizan and Yabu Tsuneo” (synthesising the research of Nakano Tomoko, Osaka Museum of History). www.satsuma-database.com/masters-from-edo-meiji-and-taisho-period/8-the-meizan-studio-1880-1941-yabu-meizan-and-yabu-tsuneo
  5. Itani Yoshie, “The Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan: Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate”, Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory 3 (2020), doi:10.18910/90920. ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/repo/ouka/all/90920/acdht_03_072.pdf
  6. Wikipedia, “Yabu Meizan” (citing Library of Congress authority file; Yamazaki Tsuyoshi in Impey and Fairley 1995; Earle 1999; Launius 2020). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yabu_Meizan
  7. Khalili Collections, Japanese Art of the Meiji Period, S 128. khalilicollections.org/collections/japanese-art-of-the-meiji-period/khalili-collection-japanese-art-of-the-meiji-period-bowl-s128

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