Wagokuhen 倭玉篇

Alternative reading of title: Wagyokuhen. Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., Keichō 15, 1610. Kanki on last folio (71b) of maki 下 reads: 慶長庚戌仲春日. Description: 3 kan, 3 satsu, bound in 1 vol. (western style). (上) ff. 2, 84; (中) ff. 3, 80; (下) ff. 3, 71. 28.2 x 20 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.2-22.2 x 18.5 cm. Double-line borders, with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin and similar design above section headings in text. Vertical rules and horizontal rules, dividing each page into 28 equal rectangles. Text in kanji with printed on readings and multiple kun readings in katakana. Each maki is headed by a 2- or 3-folio table of contents (目録). 7 lines to page, 4 kanji to line (5 in tables of contents). Plain light-brown front cover (late Edo period) of first satsu only, within a modern western style half-leather binding. No title slip, no gedai. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: Wagokuhen maki jō 倭玉篇巻上 (chū 中, ge 下) + folio no. Edition: First of three blockprinted editions published in Keichō 15 (1610), the second having a one-line kanki (printed inkoku) added to the Keichō date, reading 於洛陽二條通二王門町開板焉, and the third being a fukkoku based on the present edition. These three were preceded by a blockprint of Keichō 10 (1605) edited by Mubai 夢梅 (=Ekirin 易林), and by three undated movable type editions, believed to have been printed at the Ninnaji Shinren'in 仁和寺心蓮院 during the Keichō period. The three editions of 1610 were followed by a blockprint dated Keichō 18 (1613) and by many others in Genna and later periods. Contents: A dictionary compiled in the early Muromachi period and extensively recopied. Based on the forms of kanji, not their meaning, it was modelled on the earlier Jikyōshū 字鏡集, in a simplified and abbreviated form, and aimed to give quick reference to on and kun readings of kanji. Wagokuhen was revised and enlarged by reference to its precursor of Chinese origin, Daikō ekikai gyokuhen 大廣益會玉篇, but this edition contains a total of only 477 main headings, as compared with the latter's 542.

Unrestricted

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

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

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 211 and vol. 6, p. 351; Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究, pp. 564-6, 682-5, 756-7; Gyokuhen no kenkyū 玉篇の研究, passim; Wagokuhen kenkyū narabini sakuin 倭玉篇研究並びに索引 (facsim. reprint).