Izayoi no nikki いさよひの日記

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 16055.c.33
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1659
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 2 volumes Condition: Fair. Water-stained folios and some worm damage (repaired by urauchi patching) in both satsu. Impression: Atozuri, from moderately worn blocks. Illustrations: 4 single-page sumizuri woodcuts in conventional Tosa style, on ff. 7a, 19a, 35a and 43b. Seals of ownership: Small square red seal (uni dentified) on first page of each satsu.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Izayoi nikki 十六夜日記. Author/compiler: Abutsu-Ni 阿佛尼, waka poet, lady-in-waiting at the imperial court, and afterwards Buddhist nun, d. 1283. Imprint: Rakuyō [Kyōto] , Hayashi Izumi, Manji 2, 1659. Kanki on fol. 49b reads: 万治二己亥歳季夏中旬 ／ 洛陽今出川 ／ 林和泉板行. Description: 1 kan, 2 satsu, in a box. (Satsu 1) ff. 1-18; (satsu 2) ff. 19-49.22.4 x 15.2 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 16.8 x 11.9 cm. Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, without furigana. 10 lines to page, 14 characters to line. Mid-blue covers (original ?), with hand-lettered title slips. Gedai: (satsu 1) いさよひの日記; (satsu 2) 十六夜日記. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: I イ + folio no. Edition: The only pre-modern blockprinted edition of known date. Preceded by a movable type edition of Genna or early Kan'ei period, without illustrations. Contents: A poetic travel diary, recounting Abutsu's journey to the military court at Kamakura to plead her son's case for a share in Tameie's inheritance. The diary ends with a 151-line chōka 長歌, and contains also 116 waka poems, mostly of her own composition.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Richard Lane, 19 Nov. 1956.

Other Finding Aids

Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993).C.Japanese works 和書 6.Literature - prose 国文-散文 a.Diaries 日記

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1, p. 126; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, p. 528.