Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N. p., n.d. [c. Kan'ei period, 1624-1644] . No colophon. Description: 3 kan, formerly in 3 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (上) ff. 38; (中) ff. 16; (下) ff. 23. 255 x 165 mm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 214-220 x 159 mm. Single-line borders all round. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, with dakuten but no furigana. 11 lines to page, 22-24 characters to line. Renewed front cover (late-Edo period ?), brown streaked with white, of maki 上 only. Traces of earlier title slip with gedai, now illegible. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: Honchi ほんち jō 上 (chū 中, ge 下) + folio no. In a western style half-cloth binding. Edition: The earliest known edition of this work. Undated, but obviously of early Edo period, probably Kan'ei (1624-1644). Some surviving copies of this edition have hand-coloured illustrations (tanroku-bon), e.g in Akagi Bunko and in Tenri, both of which have a tanroku and a plain copy. Tenri's copy of the latter is described as a later printing of the tanroku-bon. The present copy is uncoloured. Other editions of this work followed the Kan'ei edition in Kanbun 8 (1668) and in Genroku / Hōei period (1688-1711), under the title Gosuiden 御すいでん. Contents: An archetypal honjimono tale of unknown authorship, dating from the Muromachi period or earlier. It tells of the childless king of the legendary country of Makada in ''Tenjiku'' 天竺, whose young consort Gosuiden 五衰殿 at length bears him a child but is put to death at the instigation of vindictive rivals. The child survives, is brought up by the sage Chiken, reveals his identity to the king, and all three quit Makada for Japan, to be revered as gongen 権現 of the Kumano shrine.
Kumano no honji くまののほんち
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- ReferenceGB 59 Or.75.g.13
- Dates of Creation[1624-1644]
- Language of MaterialJapanese
- Physical Description1 volume Condition: Fair. No worm damage and few stains, but many folios (printed on very thin paper) have split along the fore-edge. Some of these edges have been repaired, not very effectively, and the first line of text of fol. 22, maki 下, is severely damaged. Impression: Atozuri, from moderately worn blocks. Illustrations: Single- and a few double-page sumizuri woodcuts in a simple and unsophisticated style characteristic of the earliest period of Japanese book illustration. In maki 上: ff. 13a, 13b-14a, 14b, 17b-18a, 18b, 19a-b, 21a, 21b, 26b-27a, 27b-28a, 28b, 37a, 37b, 38a, 38b; in maki 中: ff. 2a, 2b, 3b-4a, 4b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b; in maki 下: ff. 3b-4a, 4b, 6b-7a, 7b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11a-b, ending with a continuous sequence of illustrations, ff. 13a-21b, reminiscent of a picture scroll. This may indicate that the printed edition was derived from a manuscript in roll form. Seals of ownership: One small red circular seal, Shisei 只誠 (seal of Sekine Shisei 關根只誠), and a larger red oblong seal, Inanoya zōsho 稲廼舎藏書 (seal of Kusada Tariho 日下田足穂), on first page of each maki. Another of Sekine's seals, Kononushi shichibei 此ぬし七米, appears in a small red oval on the last page of each maki. Manuscript notes: Several inscribed sheets of manuscript have been used to stiffen the front cover.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired from William Anderson, 13 Feb. 1894.
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 e. Muromachi jidai monogatari 室町時代物語
Bibliography
Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 297; Nihon bungaku shoshi 日本文学書誌, p. 680; Muromachi jidai monogatari taisei 室町時代物語大成, vol. 4, pp. 215-50; Catalogue of Japanese illustrated books and manuscripts in the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, p. 76; Tenri toshokan kisho mokuroku 天理図書館稀書目録 , vol. 3, p. 386.