Shūbun inryaku 聚分韻略

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.75.g.20
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1412
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Good. A few worm holes, repaired by urauchi re-backing throughout. Some folios slightly soiled, otherwise a clean copy. Cropped at upper and lower edges, resulting in damage to some headnotes on ff. 1-2. Impression: An early impression from comparatively unworn blocks. Seals of ownership: Square red seal of early date (reading unclear) on first page of preface. Also another square red seal, Asakura Kageteru 朝倉景暉, on same page. Two square red seals, one reading Kageteru 景暉, on verso of Asakura's shikigo at end of book. Manuscript notes: A few headnotes in black ink and copious interlinear on and kun readings in red and black katakana, dating from Muromachi period, throughout maki 1-3. At end of maki 4, fol. 75a, is a note in black ink signed by a former owner of the book, the monk Shōsho 聖初, dated Eikyō 3 (1431). It reads as follows: 永享三年秋八月朔日京城萬壽内 [= 山 ?] ／ 興禪庵乃客殿裏書之京城聖初敬白 ／ 聚分韻□. Shōsho's name (聖初) and kaō are repeated on fol. 93b, following the printed batsu by 一山一寧, written in very pale ink. A 9-line shikigo in 1 folio, dated Hōei 7 宝永七年 (1710), is written by a later owner, Asakura Kageteru 朝倉景暉, and refers to Shōsho's earlier ownership of the book.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Shiren 師錬, Zen monk of Nanzenji, 1278-1346. Also known as Kokan 虎關. Imprint: [Kyōto, Tōfukuji 東福寺] Reigen'an 靈源菴, Ōei 19, 1412. Mokki (colophon in an ornamental frame) on fol. 91a reads: 應永壬辰刻梓 ／ 雒東靈源菴. Description: 5 kan (continuous foliation with naidai and mokuroku at head of maki 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), 1 satsu, rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. 7 (compiler's preface dated Kagen 4 嘉元丙午, 1306), 1-91 (本文), 92-93 (batsu dated Tokuji 2 徳治丁未, 1307). 25 x 18.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame varies between 19.8 and 20.7 x 15.9 cm. Single-line borders above and below text; double-line at inner edges of each folio. Vertical rules between columns. Single fishtail design on hanshin. Text in kanji, without printed kunten. Each section heading throughout the text is printed inkoku within a decorative frame. 10 lines to page, 7 large characters and up to 14 small characters to line. Vermilion front cover, embossed with a lozenge design overlaid by a pattern of kiri flowers and tendrils; back cover lacking. Cover probably attached during period of Asakura Kageteru's ownership, c. 1710. Renewed title slip with manuscript gedai in Asakura's hand: 聚分韻略. Title from naidai at head of each maki, and from preface headed 聚分韻略序. Hashiragaki: [no running title] , folio no. only. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: Gozan-ban, printed at the Reigen' an, Tōfukuji, in Ōci 19 (1412). This is the earliest dated edition of Shūbun inryaku so far identified. Two undated editions (both with 10 lines to the page), owned by Kokkai and by Kawase Kazuma, are closely related to the present edition but are believed to have been printed earlier, c. end of Nanbokuchō (1392) or very early Muromachi (c. 1392-1400) period. No edition earlier than these has survived, but Kawase argues convincingly (Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究 and in GK, p. 385) that they were preceded by an even earlier edition, probably printed during the lifetime of the compiler (d. 1346). Only one other copy of the present edition is recorded. Many other editions, dated and undated, with 5 to 10 lines to the page, followed later in the Muromachi period. Contents: A dictionary to aid in the composition of Chinese poetry, with kanji classified by tone and rhyme. Much used by monks of the Gozan 五山 monasteries who practised Chinese poetry.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 22 Sept. 1884.

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 3. Language 言語 a. Dictionaries and script 辞書・字書

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 3, p. 284; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 112, 118-9; Gozanban no kenkyū 五山版の研究, pp. 43, 280-4, 385-90, pl. 515-8; Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究, p. 479 et seq.