Taiheiki 太平記

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 16052.f.9
  • Dates of Creation
      1698
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      11 volumes Condition: Poor to fair. Little worm damage, but many folios soiled, covers badly rubbed (or missing), requiring repair and re-sewing. Impression: Atozuri, but from less worn blocks than no. 342 above. Illustrations: This edition contains a total of 210 sumizuri woodcuts, single-page except for double-page frontispiece in introductory maki. These illustrations, varying in number from 4 to 8 in each maki, are entirely different from those in the Genroku 10 (1697) edition (see BL 16049.b.8), though generally similar to the latter in subject matter. Clearly, the 1697 edition was in heavy demand and soon exhausted, and new blocks for both text and illustrations had to be cut in the following year. Seals of ownership: None.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Rakuyō Shorin, Genroku 11, 1698. Kanki following kango on unnumbered folio at end of maki 40 reads: 元禄拾壹年 ／ 戊寅正月十一日 ／ 洛陽書林等開板. Individual publisher not named. Description: 40 kan, preceded by introductory maki containing preface, myōgi 名義, general list of contents (惣目録) and Tsurugi no maki 劍巻. 11 satsu in 2 boxes. Each maki begins with a 1-folio mokuroku 目録. 13.8 x 19.8 cm. (oblong format). Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 11.6 x 17.7 cm. Single-line borders. Single fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, with printed furigana, dakuten and kutōten. 19 lines to page, variable no. of characters to line. Original dark blue covers, with fragments of original title slips remaining. Covers missing from satsu 8 and 10, and back covers of satsu 2 and 6. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki: Taiheiki 太平記 + maki no. + folio no. Edition: Among the numerous blockprinted editions of Taiheiki published between Genna 8 (1622) and Genroku 11 (1698), this appears to be only the second to contain illustrations, following that of Genroku 10 (1697) (see 16049.b.8). The present edition may also be the second-earliest in yokohon 横本 (oblong) format. Contents: A quasi-historical chronicle (gunki monogatari 軍記物語) recounting the troubled history of conflict between the Northern and Southern Courts, 1318-67. Embellished with tales from Buddhist mythology and the Chinese classics. Completed c. 1370.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired at Glendining's sale, London, 22 March 1956.

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 d. Gunki monogatari 軍記物語

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 4, pp. 105-11; Nihon bungaku daijiten 日本文学大辞典, vol. 4, p. 433.