Kōshoku ichidai otoko 好色一代男

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.74.cc.9
  • Dates of Creation
      [1687-1690]
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Very good . Minimal worm damage (repaired) in maki 2. Damage to colophon page in maki 8, but with no loss of text. Fol. 16 of maki 5 missing. Impression: Some evidence of block wear, but less than might be expected from a third printing from the same blocks. Illustrations: Sumizuri illustrations by Moronobu, all single-page except for the first (double-page) woodcut in maki 1, distributed as follows: (maki 1) ff. 3b-4a, 6a, 8a, 10b, 12b, 15a, 17a; (maki 2) ff. 3a, 5b, 8a, 10a, 12a, 14a, 16b; (maki 3) ff. 3a, 5a, 8a, 10a, 13a, 16a, 18b; (maki 4) ff. 3b, 6a, 8b, 11a, 13b, 16a, 18a; (maki 5) ff. 3b, 6a, 9a, 11b, 13b, 16a, 18b; (maki 6) ff. 3b, 6b, 9a, 11b, 14b, 17a, 19b; (maki 7) ff. 3b, 6b, 9b, 12b, 15b, 18a, 21a; (maki 8) ff. 3a, 5b, 8a, 10b, 13a. The impression is of variable quality; excellent in many cases, atozuri in others. Note that Saikaku himself was responsible for illustrations in the Ōsaka edition, Moronobu only for those in the Edo edition. Seals of ownership: None.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Ihara Saikaku 井原西鶴, 1642-93. Illustrator: HISHIKAWA Moronobu 菱川師宣, 1618-94. Imprint: Edo, Yorozuya Seibē, n.d. [end of Jōkyō period or early Genroku, c. 1687-90 ?] . Part of folio 13b of maki 8, which might have indicated the year of publication, is damaged, leaving only the month and day: 正月吉旦. Remainder of colophon reads: 大和繪師 ／ 菱河吉兵衛師宣 ／ 日本橋南詰 ／ 万屋清兵衛板行. Description: 8 kan, 8 satsu, bound together in 1 vol. at the spine with silk brocade covers and back. (1) ff. 17; (2) ff. 17; (3) ff. 19; (4) ff. 18; (5) ff. 19; (6) ff. 20; (7) ff. 21; (8) ff. 14. 22.4 x 15.9 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 19.7-20.3 x 14.5 cm. Single-line borders around text and illustrations, with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, without furigana but with some punctuation marks (kutōten). 13 lines to page, c. 28-30 characters to line. Renewed covers painted pale yellow, but with original printed title slips pasted on maki 1, 4, 6 and 8. Gedai on other maki handwritten. Printed gedai: Yonosuke 世之介 (tsunogaki above) kōshoku ichidai otoko 好色一代男. Naidai and gedai identical. Hashiragaki: Otoko 男 + maki no. + folio no. Edition: Third printing of the Edo edition of this work, following the two impressions published by Kawasaki Shichirōbē 川崎七郎兵衞 of Nihonbashi, Edo, in Jōkyō 1 貞享元年 (1684) and by Ōtsuya Shirōbē 大津や四郎兵衞, also of Nihonbashi, in Jōkyō 4 (1687). For the present (undated) issue, published by Yorozuya Seibē, the same blocks were used as for the two earlier impressions, for both text and woodcuts. Contents: Ukiyo-zōshi novel (the first by Saikaku to be published) recounting the amorous exploits of Yonosuke, libertine and man about town. Episodes modelled on the 54 chapters of Genji monogatari in burlesque parallel, but essentially a product of ukiyo society. Both the Ōsaka and the Edo editions contain a 2-page batsubun by Mizuta Saigin 水田西吟, signed Rakugetsuan Saigin 落月菴西吟, a noted calligrapher who is credited with writing the hanshita for the Ōsaka edition.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Kegan Paul, 11 Nov. 1968.

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 g. Ukiyo-zōshi 浮世草子

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, pp. 494-5; Saikaku, pp. 109-12; Teihon Saikaku zenshū 定本西鶴全集 vol. 1, pp. 5-232; Edo-ban 'Kōshoku ichidai otoko' oboegaki 江戸版「好色一代男」覚え書, in Saikaku ronsō 西鶴論叢, pp. 271-86; An early edition of Saikaku's 'Rake's progress': Kōshoku ichidai otoko, in The British Museum Quarterly, vol. 34, nos. 1 / 2; Dai Ei hakubutsukan-bon Edo Yorozuya-ban 'Kōshoku ichidai otoko' 大英博物館本江戸万屋版「好色一代男」, in Biburia ビブリア, no. 45, pp. 26-34.