Author/compiler: Li Han 李瀚, fl. 746, original author. Text edited with commentary by Xu Ziguang 徐子光. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Dōki 道喜 (i.e. Oze (or Ose) Hoan 小瀨甫庵), Bunroku 5 文禄五年, 1596. Kanki following 5 line kango on last page of maki 下 reads: 惟時文禄第五丙申小春吉辰道喜記. Description: Incomplete copy, maki 中 and 下 only, with ff. 61-70 missing from maki 下. Formerly in 2 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. 25.6 x 19.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Renewed shibubiki (tanned paper) front cover of maki 中 only, without title slip. Manuscript gedai in a late-Edo hand: 元禄丙申 活版 ／ 蒙求 中. At top right of cover, in a different hand (perhaps written by Ekisai 棭齋, see under manuscript notes below) are three characters: 上巻闕. Edition: The earliest movable type edition of this work, published in 1596 by Oze Hoan 小瀨甫庵, also known as Dōki 道喜. Contents: Text of Mengqiu 蒙求, a collection of historical allusions drawn from a wide variety of sources in rhymed form, with notes to explain the events referred to. The work, intended for the education of young people, consists of 592 four-character phrases, each beginning with a name famous in history or legend, followed by a further four-character phrase epitomising that personage. This edition contains a commentary by Xu Ziguang, compiled in 1189.
Mōgyū 蒙求
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- ReferenceGB 59 Or.75.g.21
- Dates of Creation1596
- Language of MaterialJapanese
- Physical Description1 volume Condition: Good, a part from minor worm damage (unrepaired) and brown stains on first 6 folios. Impression: Fairly sharp, but type shows slightly more evidence of wear than no. 41. Seals of ownership: Large oblong red seal, Kurokawa-shi toshoki 黒川氏圖書記 (seal of Kurokawa Harumura 黒川春村), and smaller oblong red seal, Mori-shi kaiman sappu no ki 森氏開萬册府之記 (seal of Mori Tatsuyuki 森立之), on first page of each maki. Manuscript notes: 4-line shikigo written and signed by Kariya Ekisai 狩谷棭齋, and dated 乙亥 (=Bunka 12, 1815), on blank sheet at end of maki 下 reads: 余所見活字諸本皆慶長已後 ／ 之鏤版而已文禄之刻唯於此 ／ 見之雖闕本亦可珍賞也 ／ 乙亥季秋棭齋野夫識. Katakana kunten in black and kutōten and shubiki in red throughout text, written c. Kan'ei period or earlier. Considering the close resemblance between the kunten and reading marks in this copy and those in tnaki 下, ff. 61-70 (missing from the present copy) of no. 41 above, there seems a strong possibility that these folios may have been removed and transferred to the other copy.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Donated to the British Museum by (Sir) Ernest M. Satow 13 June 1885.
Note
Another copy of no. 41 above, maki 中 and 下 only, identical except in the following respects
Other Finding Aids
Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993).A. Chinese works 漢籍 4. History and biography 歴史•伝記
Bibliography
Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 77, 155-7, 388, 690, pl. 38-9; Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 6, p. 3; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 1, p. 80; Meng Ch'iu: famous episodes from Chinese history and legend; Dai Ei hakubutsukan no kokatsuji-ban 大英博物館の古活字版, in Aoyama gakuin joshi tanki daigaku kiyō 青山学院女子短期大学紀要, no. 22, p. 81.