A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1]
A Thousand Butterflies, volume 1, is a 1903 Japanese pattern book by the artist Kamisaka Sekka, published in Kyoto by Yamada Unsōdō as a design reference for decorative artists. The plates show butterflies in flat colour on a warm cream ground, rendered as stylised motifs. A designer could take from them the striped, spotted and dappled wing patterns, the simplified silhouettes, and the limited palette of black, blue, coral and green.
![Picture 1 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 7](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-7-1.webp)
![Picture 2 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 8](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-8-1.webp)
![Picture 3 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 10](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-10-1.webp)
![Picture 4 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 10](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-10-2.webp)
![Picture 5 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 11](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-11-1.webp)
![Picture 6 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 12](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-12-1.webp)
![Picture 7 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 13](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-13-1.webp)
![Picture 8 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 15](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-15-1.webp)
![Picture 9 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 15](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-15-2.webp)
![Picture 10 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 16](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-16-1.webp)
![Picture 11 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 17](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-17-1.webp)
![Picture 12 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 17](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-17-2.webp)
![Picture 13 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 19](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-19-1.webp)
![Picture 14 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 20](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-20-1.webp)
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![Picture 18 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 28](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-28-1.webp)
![Picture 19 of 19 from A Thousand Butterflies (Chō senshu) : [volume 1] (1903), leaf 30](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17317-30-1.webp)