Variant title: Sagoromo monogatari 狹衣物語. Author/compiler: Unknown, but sometimes attributed to the daughter of MINAMOTO no Yorikuni 源賴國女. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [mid-Kan'ei period, c. 1630-40] . No colophon. Description: 4 kan (each subdivided into 上 and 下), 8 satsu. Folios unnumbered. 27.7 x 18.1 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 22.2 x 16.5 cm. No borders. No printed hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text without furigana. 13 lines to page, 22 characters to line. Original mid-blue covers, embossed with a rhomboid and floral design. No title slips or gedai. Naidai: Sagoromo 狹衣. In a chitsu case. Edition: The last of four movable type editions of this work issued in the Genna and Kan'ei periods. Of the three earlier editions, all published in Genna period and all containing 12 lines to the page, only the first is dated, Genna 9 (1623), with the following kanki: 元和九年五月中旬 心也開板. The hanshiki of all three Genna editions is the same, whereas the present 13-line edition, dating from the mid-Kan'ei period, is printed from re-set type used for the Kan'ei 16 (1639) edition of Yamato monogatari 大和物語. All kokatsuji 古活字 editions are derived from the current text handed down in manuscript by renga 連歌 poets since medieval times. Contents: An early work of fiction, written c. 1070-90, clearly modelled on Genji monogatari 源氏物語 though much inferior to it. Popular among pre-Edo renga poets on account of its graceful waka poems and wealth of poetic allusions.
Sagoromo 狹衣
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.64.b.33
- Dates of Creation
- [1630-1640]
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 8 volumes Condition: Very good. Minor worm damage (repaired) and slight staining in satsu 3 and 8 only. Impression: For the most part sharp and clear. Little sign of type wear. Seals of ownership: Oblong black seal in gyōsho, Hōrei bunko 寶玲文庫 (library of Frank Hawley), on first page of each satsu. Manuscript notes: Some interlinear textual notes in red (late-Edo period).
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired from Kōbunsō, 15 March 1974.
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 5.Literature - fiction 国文-小説 a.Early monogatari 古物語
Bibliography
Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 497, 515-6, pl. 364; Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 3, pp. 56-8; Kōbunsō kohanpon mokuroku 弘文荘古版本目録, p. 250.