Sagoromo 狹衣 [狭衣]

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 16107.d.13
  • Dates of Creation
      1654
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Very good. A clean copy, free from soiling and with only minimal worm damage. Impression: Not shozuri, but a clear impression printed from slightly worn blocks. Illustrations: 48 single-page sumizuri illustrations in all, distributed as follows: (maki 1 上) 8; (1 下) 4; (2 上) 4; (2 下) 6; (3 上) 3; (3 中) 4; (3 下) 4; (4 上) 4; (4 中) 5; (4 下) 6. Seals of ownership: Seal of Sir Ernest Satow (his smaller seal), 英國薩道藏書, on first page of each former satsu. Below this a square red seal of a previous owner has been deleted in most maki, but is readable in maki 1 上 as 源秋麿印. Manuscript notes: Textual notes in red, derived from comparison with other versions, are scattered throughout the work, written in a neat late-Edo hand. A shikigo in blue ink on fol. la of maki 1 上 reads: 青書 ／ 二条院讃岐自筆本松平周防守家以藏書校合.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown, but sometimes attributed to the daughter of Minamoto no Yorikuni 源賴國女. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Tanioka Shichizaemon, Jōō 3, 1654. Kanki, on unnumbered folio misplaced between end of genealogy (keizu 系図) and beginning of text of maki 1, reads: 承應三甲午歳季秋吉辰 ／ 谷岡七左衛門板行. Description: 4 kan (each subdivided into 上 and 下 or 上, 中 and 下), formerly in 12 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (Satsu 1 preceding maki 1) ff. 13 (目録並年序), 16 (系図), [1] (batsu and kanki); (maki 1 上) ff. 52; (maki 1 下) ff. 43; (maki 2 上) ff. 48; (2 下) ff. 60; (3 上) ff. 43; (3 中) ff. 48; (3 下) ff. 50; (4 上) ff. 48; (4 中) ff. 53; (4 下) ff. 56. 24.2 x 15.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 17.4 x 11.9 cm. (average). Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, with printed furigana and dakuten. 11 lines to page, 22-24 characters to line. Dark blue front cover, probably original, of satsu 1 only. Printed gedai, centrally placed: Sagoromo mokuroku 狹衣目録. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki: Sagoromo 狹衣 + maki no. + folio no. in a western-style half-leather binding. Edition: The earliest blockprinted edition and the first to contain illustrations. Preceded by four movable type editions, and followed by later blockprints in Kansei 11 (1799), Tenpō 8 (1837) and Tenpō 9 (1838). Contents: An early work of fiction, written c. 1070-90, clearly modelled on Genji monogatari 源氏物語 though much inferior to it. Popular among pre-Edo renga poets on account of its graceful waka poems and wealth of poetic allusions.. Copies of this Jōō 3 edition normally contain the Shitahimo 下紐 commentary of Satomura Jōha 里村紹巴, but this is missing from the present copy.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Donated to the British Museum by (Sir) 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 5. Literature - fiction 国文-小説 a. Early monogatari 古物語

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 3, pp. 56-8.