Setsuyōshū 節用集

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.f.26
  • Dates of Creation
      [1530-1570]
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Good on the whole. Minor worm damage here and there, a few water stains in margins, wear and tear on first few folios necessitating repair of ff. 1-6 by urauchi. Impression: An early impression, sharp and clear. Seals of ownership: Square black seal of late-Muromachi date, 福椙氏元當叶, on last page below the signature noted above. Oblong red seal, 碧雲館圖書印, on first and last pages of text. Below this, on first page, is an indecipherable red seal of early date. Manuscript notes: A few scattered numerals in upper margins. Signature on last page in a late-Muromachi hand: 瑞庵桂□. At end of main text on fol. 90a: 中條 ／ 坂堂氏. Inscription on koguchi in an Edo-period hand: 中條.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Manjuya-bon setsuyōshū 饅頭屋本節用集. Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [late-Muromachi period, c. 1530-70] . No colophon. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. 98. 14.1 x 20.7 cm. (oblong format - 橫本). Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 11.5 x 17.5 cm. (average). Thick single-line borders all round, with broad black bands on hanshin above and below numerals. Text in kanji, with blockprinted on and kun readings in katakana. Headings of main divisions, in iroha order, are printed yōkoku within circular frames, whilst subheadings in subject order are printed inkoku in elongated octagonal cartouches. 8 lines to page, 10-12 characters to line. Mid-brown front cover only, old but not original, attached in late-Edo or early-Meiji period, with manuscript gedai of the same date: 饅頭屋原刻 ／ 節用集. Title from naidai on first page. Hashiragaki: folio number only, no title. In a modern western style half-leather binding. Edition: A copy of the Manjuya-bon Setsuyōshū 饅頭屋本節用集, so called because of the occupation of the reputed publisher, Rin Sōji 林宗二 (not named in book), 1498-1581. This is generally believed to be the first printed edition of Setsuyōshū. Although undated, it is assigned by scholars to late-Muromachi period (probably Tenbun to Eiroku period, 1532-70) on grounds of hanshiki and pre-Edo style of kanji and katakana. Most extant copies of this edition are printed from blocks showing little sign of wear, suggesting that the original blocks may have been destroyed by fire or war at an early date. Two fukkoku editions of the Manjuya-bon were printed from re-cut blocks in Kan'ei period (1624-44). As befitted a popular dictionary of practical value, the Manjuya edition was issued in oblong format of handy size, printed on thick, strong kōzo paper. Contents: See no. 246 below. Main text (本文) of this Manjuya edition ends on fol. 90a, followed by two appendices: (1) headed Keishi kuhaku no na 京師九陌名 (ff. 90b-91); (2) headed Zokumyōyō 俗名用 (ff. 92-98).

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).C.Japanese works 和書 3.Language 言語 a.Dictionaries and script 辞書・字書

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 3, p. 621; Gozanban no kenkyū 五山版の研究, p. 285, p1. 538; Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究, pp. 806-10; Kohon setsuyōshū no kenkyū 古本節用集の研究, pp. 74-7; Kokuritsu kokkai toshokan shozō kichōsho kaidai 国立国会図書館所藏貴重書解題, vol. 1, p. 78; Ryūmon bunko zenpon shomoku 竜門文庫善本書目, p. 132; Kyūkan eifu 旧刊影譜, no. 87, p1. 161.