Author/compiler: Nisshū 日修, Nichiren monk. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [c. Kan'ei period, 1624-44] . Place and date of publication uncertain, but kanki on last page dated Keichō 6 (1601) relates to the original edition on which this is based. Kanki reads: 慶長第六辛丑歳季冬下浣三日 ／ 本地院中 板行. Description: 1 kan, formerly in 1 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. 23. 26.4 x 17.3 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 20.5 x 15.2 cm. (average). No borders round main text. Single-line borders round tables, and vertical and horizontal rules dividing up pages of nenpu 年譜, etc. Fishtail design, but no borders, on hanshin. Kanbun text, with printed katakana kunten and kaeriten. 7 lines to page, 17 characters to line. Original mid-brown front cover only. Title slip added c. early-Meiji period, with manuscript gedai: 元祖蓮公薩略傳. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: Ryakuden 略傳 + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: Although closely resembling movable type, this is clearly a blockprint modelled on the original movable type edition published by Enchi 圓智 (=Nisshō 日性, Shōe 承慧) at the Honjiin 本地院, Yōhōji 要法寺 monastery, Kyōto, in Keichō 6 (1601). (See kanki transcribed above.) Of that edition, no copies appear to have survived; its existence is known only from the present seihan edition, which was published probably in early- to mid-Kan'ei period, judging by its hanshiki which differs from that of Keichō period publications. The present blockprinted edition has been supplied with printed kunten. Not to be confused with a genuine Yōhōji-ban 要法寺版. Contents: Short biography of Nichiren 日蓮 (otherwise known as Renkō 蓮公), founder of the Nichiren sect, 1222-82. Compiled in Eiroku 9 (1566). Text is followed by a summary chronology headed 蓮公大師年譜 (ff. 16-21) and a list of his works headed 錄内年月未勘之書 (ff. 22-23).
Ganso renkō satta ryakuden 元祖蓮公薩埵略傳 [元祖蓮公薩埵略伝]
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- ReferenceGB 59 Or.75.g.17
- Dates of Creation[1624-1644]
- Language of MaterialJapanese
- Physical Description1 volume Condition: Fair. Main text water-stained. Numerous worm holes, especially in ff. 16-23 (nenpu 年譜, etc.) repaired by urauchi patching. Impression: Sharp and clear, showing little sign of block wear. Seals of ownership: None.
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.
Other Finding Aids
Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). B. Buddhist works 仏書 6. Nichiren sect 日蓮宗
Bibliography
Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 258-9: Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 仏書解説大辞典, vol. 2, p. 208.