Ichiyo’s ‘Takekurabe’ manuscript fetches ¥21 mil.

Jiji Press TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The handwritten manuscript of “Takekurabe” (growing up), a novella by Japanese author Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896), fetched ¥ 21 million in a Tokyo auction on Saturday.

A male collector from outside Tokyo made the successful bid, higher than the assumed price range of ¥10 million to ¥ 15 million.

The manuscript, a Japanese-style book containing 75 pages of 400-character manuscript paper, was previously shown in an exhibition.

According to Tokyo-based Mainichi Auction Inc., which organized the latest auction, the manuscript was held by an art dealer following the female author’s death before coming into the possession of another individual.

Takekurabe, a story about puppy love between a boy and a girl in Tokyo’s Yoshiwara licensed quarter, was carried in a magazine series from January 1895. The whole story was published in a separate magazine in April 1896, and the auctioned manuscript is the copy Higuchi wrote out for the magazine.

Source:http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005490464

Source: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005490464