The essential reading on Yabu Meizan, from the 1896 eyewitness account of his studio to current museum research. Every title has been checked against library or publisher records. Period sources published before 1929 can be read free on the Internet Archive.
Start with the key sources marked in gold. Lawrence’s two books and the Khalili earthenware volume remain the fullest published treatments. The 1904 and 1910 exhibition catalogues show the very pieces Meizan sent to the world’s fairs. For a fuller list of articles and archival studies, see the Bibliography.
Books, catalogues and articles
19 items
Key sourceCollection catalogues · 所蔵品図録
Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan. Ceramics, Part Two: Earthenware
The core reference: the Khalili Collection’s earthenwares, with the largest published group of Meizan studio works and a biographical essay on Meizan.
- Key source
Monographs · 研究書
The Glorious World of Yabu Meizan (Collector’s Edition)
藪明山の世界：明治工藝白眉の藝術起業家（愛蔵版）
The only monograph on Meizan: 147 works in full colour, each with a commentary, plus essays drawing on the Osaka Museum of History archive, a chronology (pp. 220–231), a list of works (pp. 232–235) and photographs of the family and home. This is a book, separate from Itani’s 2022 journal article with a similar English title. A cheaper popular edition (普及版) appeared in 2019 (ISBN 9784434265495).
- Key source
Monographs · 研究書
Satsuma: Masterpieces from the World’s Important Collections
Bilingual English–Japanese survey of Meiji Satsuma with maker biographies and marks; the standard place to start on Meizan’s contemporaries.
- Key source
Monographs · 研究書
Satsuma: The Romance of Japan
A directory of more than 300 photographed signatures, quoting an 1891 newspaper account of a visit to Meizan’s studio (p. 252) that names Tsuneo as his “brother”.
Collection catalogues · 所蔵品図録
Splendors of Meiji: Treasures of Imperial Japan. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection
Exhibition-scale selection from the Khalili Collection; its Meizan pages (pp. 117–139) are widely cited.
Exhibition catalogues · 展覧会図録
Splendors of Imperial Japan: Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection
Catalogue cited on Khalili object pages for Meizan bowls such as S 30 and S 128.
Monographs · 研究書
Meiji Ceramics: The Art of Japanese Export Porcelain and Satsuma Ware 1868–1912
Context for the export trade that Meizan served, with a section on the Meizan studio (pp. 146–147).
Exhibition catalogues · 展覧会図録
Meizan Satsuma no bi: Bankoku hakurankai de aisareta kindai Ōsaka no yakimono
明山薩摩の美―万国博覧会で愛された近代大阪のやきもの―
Catalogue of the first museum exhibition devoted to Meizan, held in his own city (31 Aug–24 Oct 2005).
Monographs · 研究書
The Life and Times of Missouri’s Charles Parsons: Between Art and War
Biography of the collector whose 1894–95 visit gave the famous description of “17 men and boys at work” in the studio.
Monographs · 研究書
Japan and Britain after 1859: Creating Cultural Bridges
Places Meizan within Anglo-Japanese cultural exchange (p. 45).
Key sourcePeriod sources · 同時代資料
Notes of a Trip around the World in 1894 and 1895
Eyewitness account of the Osaka studio (p. 27): “All is order, neatness and silence … He makes the designs and watches them carefully.”
Period sources · 同時代資料
A Japanese Collection (2 vols)
A Victorian collection catalogue listing Meizan works with “seal Yabu Meizan”. One of its jars reappeared at Bonhams in 2014.
Period sources · 同時代資料
A Handbook for Travellers in Japan (7th ed.)
Carries the studio’s advertisement, “Painter of the Finest Satsuma Porcelain … Our wares all bear this mark”.
Key sourceExhibition catalogues · 展覧会図録
The Illustrated Catalogue of Japanese Fine Art Exhibits in the Art Palace at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis
Photographs two Meizan basins (plate p. 88). Henry Walters bought Meizan’s Bowl with a Multitude of Women at this fair.
Key sourceExhibition catalogues · 展覧会図録
An Illustrated Catalogue of Japanese Modern Fine Arts displayed at the Japan-British Exhibition, London 1910
Illustrates four Meizan exhibits (nos. 146, 147, 157, 158). The V&A acquired its Meizan wares in the same year.
Key sourcePeriod sources · 同時代資料
Japanese Art and Artists of To-day. II. Ceramic Artists
Contains the only published photograph of the working studio, and a portrait of Meizan as “a man of very gentle manners and of refined tastes”.
Articles · 論文
The Design Philosophy of Yabu Meizan: Landscapes of Western Japan in Copperplate
Shows how the studio transferred copperplate underdrawings onto blanks, and supplies family dates.
Articles · 論文
Research bulletins on Yabu Meizan (2019–2025)
大阪歴史博物館研究紀要
Archival studies from the family papers: his personal record, the copper-plate transfer technique, the dealer Hirase Yoichirō and the year 1880. English titles as cited by satsuma-database; not yet consulted directly.
No titles in this category.
Covers: Open Library (covers.openlibrary.org) and public-domain scans from the Internet Archive. Titles without a cover image are shown with a typographic cover.