Hōjōki shisetsu 方丈記訵説

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 16055.c.49
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1658
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 2 volumes Condition: Good, apart from brown stain on first few folios. Impression: Slightly atozuri, from moderately worn blocks. Illustrations: 8 single-page sumizuri woodcuts, 5 in maki 上 and 3 in maki 下. Seals of ownership: None.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Kamo no Chōmei 鴨長明, author of original text. Commentary by Ōwada Kikyū 大和田氣求, Confucianist and kokugakusha, d. 1672. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Zeniya Gihē, Enpō 3, 1675. Kanki on last fol. verso of maki 下 reads: 延寶三乙卯暦 ／ 孟夏下旬 ／ 堀川通吉水町 ／ 錢屋儀兵衞刋行. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, in a chitsu case. (Maki 上) ff. [34]; (maki 下) ff. [25] . Folios not numbered on hanshin, but sequence is indicated by iroha (いろは) in kana, followed by the 12 cyclical signs (十二支), printed on inner edge of each folio verso. 26.3 x 19.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 24.7 x 18 cm. (average). Single-line borders round each individual page. No printed hanshin. Text of Hōjōki 方丈記 in hiragana-majiri, with furigana, dakuten and kutōten, occupying lower half of each page. Commentary, partly in hiragana-majiri, partly in kanbun with printed kunten and kaeriten, in upper half of each page. 8 lines to page (main text 本文), 20 lines to page (commentary), variable no. of characters to line. Original mid-blue covers, with title slip at left remaining on maki 下 (missing from maki 上), with original printed gedai: Chōmei (tsunogaki) hōjōki shisetsu 長明 (角書) 方丈記訵説. No naidai. At head of introductory notes on first 3 folios: 方丈記. Edition: Reprint, with new kanki, from the blocks of the first edition, which was published by Ōwada Kyūzaemon 大和田九左衞門 in Meireki 4 明暦四年, 1658. Contents: Text of Kamo no Chōmei's Hōjōki 方丈記, collated (in haste and not very thoroughly, according to Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典) from various sources, with commentary in the form of headnotes by Ōwada Kikyū 大和田氣求. Ōwada's name does not appear in the book.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Rinrōkaku, 24 April 1963.

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 b. Zuihitsu 随筆

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 5, pp. 230-1; Kanpon hōjōki shoshi 刊本方丈記書史 (Appendix to Hōjōki shoshō taisei 方丈記諸抄大成), pp. 14-6.