This collection comprises Japanese woodblock prints and illustrated handscrolls produced during the Edo period. Among the works included are illustrated handscrolls depicting the arrival of the Black Ships, materials that are rarely held by institutions within the United States, as well as documents related to international tensions that emerged during the late Bakumatsu period, a time of profound transformation when Japan, long under a policy of national seclusion, began to open its doors to the wider world.

One of the defining characteristics of this collection is its narrative coherence, as the materials collectively illuminate a turbulent historical moment shaped by diplomatic encounters and cross-cultural friction.

In addition, the collection includes materials that offer glimpses into the everyday lives of common people in the Edo period, as well as items such as Hyakunin Isshu, a traditional card game based on classical Japanese poetry. These materials have been digitized and are made available for scholarly access and educational use.

Furthermore, twenty-seven titles from this collection were selected for the "2026–2028 NIJL–NCC CDDP Digitization Grant Program" and were digitized with the support of a this grant. These titles are scheduled to be included in a union catalog database of Japanese-language texts.

Pages appear online in the intended right-to-left sequence, and page numbers have been added to aid in navigation. Use the "display gallery view" option (at the left bar of the interface screen) to browse thumbnail images of the pages.

Some original volumes are in the collection of the Kohler Art Library and some are in the Special Collection Library, University of Wisconsin, Madison. They are incomplete. We include partial volumes (and in one instance merely a small collection of pages) in order to give viewers the widest range of illustration content.