Shōun oshō kobun shinpō no shō 笑雲和尚古文眞寶之抄 [笑雲和尚古文真宝之抄]

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.e.3
  • Dates of Creation
      1617
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      2 volumes Condition: Generally good, but with worm damage in upper margins (repaired by urauchi) and some water stains. Maki 3, fol. 9 supplied in manuscript. Impression: For the most part sharp and clear. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal, Eirin zō 榮琳藏, on first page of each maki. Oblong red seal, Kōdaiin zō 光臺院藏 (seal of Daigoji 醍醐寺, Kōdaiin), on first and last page of most maki (some obliterated). Manuscript.notes: Textual headnotes, okurigana, kaeriten and kundoku added in some maki (not all), written in two different hands of early Edo period. Shubiki and kutōten in red also added. Note in large script on front cover of maki 1 上: 朝鮮寫刻 慶長版 [this is erroneous] . Note on front cover of maki 5 上: 総合十三策□□室.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Kobun shinpō shō 古文眞寶抄 [古文真宝抄]. Author/compiler: Original work attributed to Huang Jian 黃堅. Edited with commentary by Shōun Seisan 笑雲清三, Zen monk of the Kenchōji 建長寺, Kamakura. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Kyōto ?, Genna 3, 1617] . Colophon missing from this copy, which lacks final maki. Description: Maki 1-9 (of 10), formerly in 12 satsu, now rebound in 2 vols. western style. Complete copy would comprise 10 kan in 13 satsu, maki 1, 4 and 5 each being subdivided into 2 satsu, jō 上 and ge 下. (1 上) ff. 80; (1 下) ff. 97; (2) ff. 66; (3) ff. 82; (4 上) ff. 61; (4 下) ff. 54; (5 上) ff. 56; (5 下) ff. 38; (6) ff. 59; (7) ff. 53; (8) ff. 54; (9) ff. 65. 28.9 x 19.3 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 23.2 x 16.7 cm. Single-line borders all round. Decorated fishtail design on hanshin. Katakana-majiri text (commentary), with extracts from original text in kanbun. 18 lines to page (kana-majiri and small kanbun), 9 lines to page (large kanbun), 18 characters to line. Original pale-fawn front covers of maki 1 and maki 5 上 only, corresponding to vols. 1 and 2 of present western style half-leather binding. No title slips. Manuscript gedai, maki 1: 古文真寶抄; maki 5 上: 古文後集 五上. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki: Kobun shinpō shō 古文真寶抄 + maki no. + folio no. Edition: Although maki 10, which would have contained the kanki, is missing from this copy, there is no doubt that it belongs to the edition published at Kyōto in Genna 3 (1617). The kanki in a complete copy, following a batsu signed by the compiler Shōun Seisan and dated Daiei 5 大永五年 (1525) when the work was completed, reads as follows: 元和三年丁巳孟春如意珠日 / 於雒陽刋行焉. The possibility has been suggested that this book may have been printed with bronze, and not wooden, type. Contents: Extracts from the Guwen zhenbao 古文眞寶, selected by the Japanese Zen monk Seisan 清三, known as Shōun 笑雲, with an extensive commentary by him.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 22 Sept. 1884.

Other Finding Aids

Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). A. Chinese works 漢籍 7. Chinese literature 中国文学

Bibliography

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 368, 810, pl. 159; Takagi bunko kokatsuji-ban mokuroku 高木文庫古活字版目録, p. 72, pl. 93-4.