Shūgaishō 拾芥抄

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 16225.a.8
  • Dates of Creation
      [1650-1700]
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      6 volumes Condition: Very good. A clean copy, free from stains or worm damage. Impression: Variable, but mostly atozuri from moderately worn blocks. Illustrations: An important feature of this book is the Gyōki 行基 type map showing Japanese provinces, on fol. 60a and 60b of maki 中末. This is the earliest known printed map of Japan in existence. Also in maki 中末, ff. 26-32 and 57-59, are street plans of Kyōto showing residences of the nobility and other features. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal, Usen'en bunko 芋芊苑文庫 (seal of Tanaka Mugai 田中夢外) overprinted with a black seal, Dōjun zō 道順藏, on first page of each satsu.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Ryakuyōshō 略要抄. Author/compiler: Tōin Kinkata 洞院公賢, (attrib.). Supplementary material by Tōin Sanehiro 洞院實熙, according to one theory. Imprint: Kyōto, Fūgetsu Shōzaemon, n.d. [latter part of 17th century ?] . Kanki on unnumbered folio pasted on inner back cover of maki 下末 reads: 京都書肆 ／ 二條通衣棚 ／ 風月莊左衛門. Description: 3 kan, 6 satsu, in a box. (Each maki is in 2 parts, hon 本 and matsu 末, contained in 1 satsu each.) (Maki 上本) ff. 2 (目録), 35; (maki 上末) ff. 35; (maki 中本) ff. 2 (目録), 43; (maki 中末) ff. 74; (maki 下本) ff. 2 (目録), 59; (maki 下末) ff. 53. 26.7 x 19.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.2 x 17 cm. (average). Single-line borders, with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, with printed kunten and kutōten. 11 lines to page, 19 characters to line. Original mid-blue covers, with original printed title slips on left bearing gedai: Shinpan (tsunogaki) shūgaishō 新版 (角書) 拾芥抄. Title from mokurokudai and from naidai at head of each maki, except maki 上本 which is headed Ryakuyōshō 略要抄. Hashiragaki: 拾芥上本 (等) + folio no. Edition: Undated edition, probably published in late-17th or even early 18th century. The latest dated edition recorded in Kokusho sōmokuroku 国書総目録 is of Meireki 2 明暦二年 (1656), without the tsunogaki Shinpan 新版. An earlier blockprint was published in Kan'ei 19 (1642), and two undated movable type editions were issued in Keichō period. Contents: An early encyclopedia covering court life, customs, ceremonial and other aspects of social life. Compiled in the 14th century. Authorship uncertain, but generally attributed to Tōin Kinkata 洞院公賢 and / or Tōin Sanehiro 洞院實熙.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from an unknown source, c. 1960-70.

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 1.Encyclopedias and works of general scope 事典・一般書

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 3, p. 271; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, p. 578; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, pp. 4-5.