The first of the major Rimpa books: Nakamura Hōchū’s "Kōrin Gafu" - An Album of Pictures by Kōrin - the rare first edition, colophon dated Kyowa mizunoe inu no toshi [Year of the Dog – 1802]. Jack Hillier called this "among the most exceptional picture-books in the world". 1/4 
Rimpa stylistically submerged anything like realistic detail and incorporated 'tarashikomi', a brush technique of adding moist colour to an area already partly dry, bringing about a fusion of the pigments beyond the artist's strict control. 2/4
This is the true first edition, with yellow covers, a preface and a postface, and colophon dated Kyowa 2 (1802). The name of publisher is given as Omiya Yohei of Edo Nihonbashi and the printer's name as Matsuda Shinsuke, both of them featuring in the first edition only. 3/4
The very few extant examples of the 1802 first edition of Hōchū’s Kōrin Gafu show considerable variation, including the order of the plates. The second edition was published soon after by Izumiya Shobei. The book was reproduced again in 1826 and, again, in the Meiji period. 4/4
