Author/compiler: Shimotsu Mototomo (or Genchi) 下津元知, writer on botany, fl. late-17th century. Imprint: Edo, Fujimoto Heizaemon; Kyōto, Tanaka Rihē, Jōkyō 2, 1685. Kanki on fol. 32b of maki 10 reads: 于時貞享二乙丑年三月上旬 ／ 書林 ／ 江戸日本橋青物町 ／ 藤本兵左衛門 ／ 京柳馬場二條上町 ／ 田中理兵衛 ／ 開板. Description: 10 kan, 10 satsu, in 2 modern chitsu cases. (Maki 1) ff. [1, portraits] , 2 (叙), 2 (序), 3 (凡例), 25 (本文); (2) ff. 32; (3) ff. 36; (4) ff. 26; (5) ff. 30; (6) ff. 33; (7) ff. 28; (8) ff. 29; (9) ff. 29; (10) ff. 32. 230 x 159 mm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 191 x 139 mm. (average). Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, with printed okurigana and kaeriten, and some furigana. 11 lines to page, 19 characters to line. Original light blue covers with printed title slips on left bearing gedai: 圖解本艸. In addition, a square title slip giving maki number and kanji denoting iroha arrangement of contents in that maki is pasted centrally on each cover. Title from naidai at head of prefaces and main text. Hashiragaki: Zukai honzō 圖解本草 + maki no. + folio no. Edition: First Japanese edition, followed by only one further edition in Kyōhō 1 (1716). Contents: Illustrations and explanations of the medicinal properties of plants and trees, based on the Ming Chinese materia medica, Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 compiled by Li Shizhen.
Zukai honzō 圖解本艸 [図解本草]
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- ReferenceGB 59 16034.b.22
- Dates of Creation1685
- Language of MaterialJapanese
- Physical Description10 volumes Condition: Very good. Impression: An early impression, shozuri or near. Illustrations: Profusely illustrated with sumizuri woodcuts, simple but effective, showing medicinal plants and trees, with some animals. Portraits of Li Shizhen 李時珍, author of the original Chinese work on which this is based, appear on the first folio, recto and verso, of maki 1. Seals of ownership: Octagonal British Museum stamp, probably 18th century: MVSEVM BRITANNICVM, on first page (and mostly on last page also) of each maki. Old British Museum pressmarks on square title labels: Pr. Or. 101-110. Manuscript notes: (1) Note on front cover of maki 1: Natural history of China / Examined by Chetqua / Decr. 17. 1770. (2) Note in a later hand on a paper slip pasted below: No. 36 / A Japanese edition of the Chinese Herbal / 10 volumes. (3) Transcription of syllables of title, in the hand of Engelbert Kaempfer, alongside each ji on title slips of maki 1 and 10: 圖 Dsu 解 je kai 本 fon 艸 so, with Latin translation on left side of each ji, in the case of maki 1, and katakana transcription in the case of maki 10.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Purchased from the estate of Engelbert Kaempfer by Sir Hans Sloane 1723-1725 and incorporated in the British Museum in 1753.
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 8. Literature - poetry 国文-詩歌 d. Jōruri 浄瑠璃
Bibliography
Tōhoku daigaku fuzoku toshokan betchibon mokuroku 東北大学附属図書館別置本目録, p. 53.