Edo dōchūki 江戸道中記

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.f.3
  • Dates of Creation
      1687
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Good. Impression: Atozuri. Blocks show signs of moderate wear. Illustrations: One double-page sumizuri woodcut on ff. 1b-2a; 2 single-page woodcuts on ff. 5a and 21b. Seals of ownership: Octagonal British Museum stamp, MVSEVM BRITANNICVM, on front cover. Manuscript notes: Notes in black ink on front cover: Speculum Viatorum / Japoniae / Dupplicate / Examined by Chetqua Decr. 17. 1770. Old shelfmark, Pr: Or: 135, on title slip.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Dōchū meishoki 道中名所記. Variant title: Zōho edo dōchūki 増補江戸道中記. Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., Jōkyō 4, 1687. No colophon, but date on title slip reads: 貞享四歳 / 卯三月改. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, in a box. ff. 24 (fol. 24a has been pasted as a mikaeshi on inner front cover). 7.8 x 17.8 cm. (yokohon). Fukurotoji. Original dark blue covers, with original printed title slip on left. Printed gedai includes date, as noted above, and reads: 貞享四歳 / 卯三月改 / 増補 / 江戸道中記 / 并 / 木曽海道入. Edition: The earliest edition recorded in Kokusho sōmokuroku 国書総目録 is dated Enpō 3 (1675), followed in rapid succession by editions of Enpō 4 (1676), Enpō 7 (1679), Genroku period, etc. The present edition of Jōkyō 3 (1686) is not recorded, nor is no. 554 below, dated Jōkyō 4. The work must have been revised or reprinted at very frequent intervals in late-17th and early-18th centuries. Contents: A guide book for travellers on the Tōkaidō 東海道, giving practical information on posting stations, distances, noted places along the route, and followed by a brief itinerary to the Kisokaidō 木曾海道.

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 10. Geography and topography 地理・地誌 b. Travel guides 案内記・道中記

Bibliography

Kazō Nihon chishi mokuroku 家蔵日本地誌目録, vol. 1, p. 273.. Also The History of Japan-see J. G. Scheuchzer's Introduction, p. 1, under Dodsutski.