Goseibai shikimoku 御成敗式目

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.ff.23
  • Dates of Creation
      1659
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Good. Slightly water-stained on ff. 28-33 and a few ink stains, but no worm damage. Impression: Atozuri, from slightly worn blocks. Seals of ownership: Octagonal British Museum stamp, probably 18th century: MVSEUM BRITANNICVM, on ff. 1a, 38b and final endpaper. Old British Museum pressmark on mikaeshi: Pr. Or. 25. Manuscript notes: Shikigo in black ink, dated Enpō 2 (1674), on endpaper following last printed page: 延寶貳年寅 三月五日 / 紙数三拾八枚 / 今村亀之助 (花押). Crudely written place name, 九州肥前, on mikaeshi, below a note in English: A Treatise on the Laws of the Country / Examined by Chetqua / Dec. 17, 1770. Also an impression of a circular brown stamp. Four notes, roughly written, on outer back cover: (1) 元禄三年庚午七月十日; (2) さが屋町; (3) 久兵衛 (花押); (4) large ji 久, in centre.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Jōei shikimoku 貞永式目. Variant title: Son'en goseibai shikimoku 尊圓御成敗式目 [尊円御成敗式目]. Author/compiler: A corporate compilation, traditionally attributed to Hōjō Yasutoki 北條泰時, 1183-1242. Imprint: [Edo] , Ōwada Kyūzaemon, Manji 2, 1659. Kanki on last page (fol. 38b) reads: 萬治二己亥年九月吉旦 / 大和田九左衛門板行. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu. ff. 38. 265 x 181 mm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 220 x 170 mm. No borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, with printed okurigana, some kundoku and kaeriten. 6 lines to page, 12-14 characters to line. Original chestnut-brown covers, recently repaired with western paper and re-sewn in Japanese style. Original printed title slip, with gedai: 尊圓 (角書) 御成敗式目. Small strip of paper pasted on front cover reads: 78 / Japanese laws. Title from naidai, which is followed by 貞永元年八月十日. Hashiragaki: Shikimoku 式目 + folio no. In a buckram box. Edition: One of the very numerous blockprinted editions published during the Edo period (in almost every year-period from Keichō to Meiji). According to tsunogaki on title slip (see above), the hanshita for this edition was based on calligraphy by Son'en Hōshinnō 尊圓法親王 (1298-1356), but this attribution is manifestly impossible, especially in view of the many mid-Edo editions in differing calligraphic styles ascribed to Son'en and other notable early calligraphers. Ueki 植木 (see References below) identifies two editions published in Manji 2 (1659), neither of them issued by Ōwada Kyūzaemon. Contents: An early law code, established by the Kamakura bakufu in Jōei 1 (1232). The first codification and cornerstone of buke-hō 武家法, which remained dominant from the 13th to 19th centuries. Based on court cases heard by the bakufu.

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.