Shokugenshō 職原抄

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.59.b.26
  • Dates of Creation
      [1630-1640]
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Fair. Some worm damage, unrepaired. Impression: Atozuri, from blocks badly worn in places. Seals of ownership: Square red seal Seisodō 青素堂 on first page of maki 上 and 下.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Kitabatake Chikafusa 北畠親房, 1293-1354. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Tawara Nizaemon, n.d. [Kan'ei period, c. 1630-40] . The 21-folio supplement (後附) 6 folios from the end bears a date corresponding to Keichō 13 (1608), but this is unreliable (see notes on Edition below). Kanki on fol. 6b of hoi (補遺) reads: 二条鶴屋町 / 田原仁左衛門新刋. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, bound in 1 vol. western-style. (Satsu 上) ff. 46; (satsu 下) ff. 48, 21 (後附), 6 (補遺). 26.1 x 18.3 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint, modelled on a movable type edition. Printing frame 21.5 x 17 cm. Double borders, one thick, one thin, with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text with some printed kundoku, okurigana and kaeriten. 8 lines to page, 16 characters to line. Original front cover and printed title slip of satsu 上 only, with gedai: 職原抄. Western style binding in half-leather. Title from gedai and naidai. Hashiragaki: Shokugenshō jō (ge) 職原抄 上 (下) + folio no. Edition: Three editions were published in Keichō period: a movable type chokuhan 勅版 of Keichō 4 (1599), an undated Fushiminomiya-ke-ban 伏見宮家版, and another movable type edition published by Funabashi (or Kiyohara) Hidekata 船橋 (清原) 秀賢 in Keichō 13 (1608). Although the present copy closely resembles the latter edition, it is clearly a blockprinted edition printed from newly cut blocks (kabusebori) in imitation of the 1608 edition and incorporating the Keichō 13 kanki on fol. 21 of the appended supplement (後附). This kanki reads: 于峕慶長戊申夏四月蚯蚓出日 / 吏部少卿清原秀賢誌. In the present copy the 21-folio atozuke 後附 and the 6-folio hoi 補遺 have been transposed, the latter being the last section of the book, ending with the new (undated) kanki of Tawara Nizaemon. Contents: The earliest Japanese work (written c. 1340) on government offices, both statutory and non-statutory, tracing their development since the establishment of the Ritsuryō 律令 system of government in the 7th century and explaining their functions.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Donated 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 11. Law, government, administration and economics 法制・政治・行政・経済 b. Government and administration 政治・行政

Bibliography

Nihon bungaku daijiten 日本文学大辞典, vol. 4, p. 95; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 205, 478, 693; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, p. 217; Takagi bunko kokatsuji-ban mokuroku 高木文庫古活字版目録 p. 39.