Japanese woodblock teaching the iroha alphabet

A well-preserved woodblock (135 x 205 x 19 mm.), with the work’s illustrated title-page — Iroha mondō — on one side of the board and text on both, used in the printing two leaves of an iroha textbook for children and the illiterate. Japan: late Edo or early Meiji. An illustrated printing woodblock, carved on both sides and in excellent condition, that bears two leaves – the title-page and page one and leaf two, both of part one – with 36 panels containing teaching phrases to memorize the iroha alphabet. The illustration depicts two men reading a letter. The textbook for which this block was produced was used to educate children and illiterate adults. A fine example and a useful addition to teaching collections on the global history of printing.