Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: [Edo] , Hiranoya Kichibē, n.d. [printed from blocks of c. Keian / Jōō period, 1648-55] . Kanki on fol. 38a of maki 下 reads: 平野屋吉兵衛新版. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, bound in 1 vol. western style. (Maki 上) ff. 36; (maki 下) ff. 1-28, 32-38. 23.5 x 18.3 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 20.9 x 16.5 cm. Double-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with printed furigana and kutōten. 12 lines to page, 22-24 characters to line. Dark blue front cover of maki 上 only, with faintly embossed design of stylised floral ornaments, renewed in late-Edo period. Renewed title slip contemporary with cover, with manuscript gedai: 大坂物語. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki (of maki 上 and 下, main text) : 大坂 上 (下) + folio no; (of final 7 leaves numbered 32-38 and headed kubichō 頸帳) : 大坂物語 下 + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: An undated edition from blocks datable to c. Keian 慶安 (1648-52) or Jōō 承応 (1652-55) period. Numerous seihan editions of this work were published from the Kan'ei period (1624-44) onward, some dated, others not. They contain an appendix entitled kubichō 頸帳 following end of text proper in maki 下, which does not appear in movable type editions. The publisher, Hiranoya Kichibē, was active from Genroku period and the present copy was therefore probably printed from the original blocks towards the end of the 17th century. Contents: A factual account of the siege of Ōsaka castle during two campaigns in winter 1614 and summer 1615, in which Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Toyotomi Hideyori. Kawase in KK cites convincing evidence that the earliest editions of this work closely followed the end of the siege.
Ōsaka monogatari 大坂物語
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.64.c.37
- Dates of Creation
- [1648-1655]
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 1 volume Condition: Generally good, but the whole book has been re-backed by urauchi and cropped at upper edge. Worm holes on ff. 1-4 and damage by scorching on ff. 30-33 of maki 上. Impression: Atozuri, from badly worn blocks. Illustrations: Double- and single-page sumizuri woodcuts in crude and primitive style on ff. 3b-4a, 14b-15a, 26b-27a and 36a of maki 上; and ff. 4b-5a, 17b-18a and 28a of maki 下. Seals of ownership: Square red seal (unidentified) on first page of each maki.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 13 June 1885.
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 9. History and biography 歴史・伝記 b. Senki monogatari, including history of specific periods and campaigns 戦記物語 (時代史を含む)
Bibliography
Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1, p. 437; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究. p. 622; Ōsaka monogatari no kenkyū 大坂物語の研究, in Shoshigakua 書誌学, vol. 1, no. 4.