Inkyō 韻鏡

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 ORB 30/219
  • Dates of Creation
      1628
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Generally good. Some worm damage (unrepaired), especially in last 10 folios. Lower corners soiled throughout. Condition of ff. 43-44 poor, despite attempts at urauchi repair. Impression: An early impression, showing little sign of worn blocks. Seals of ownership: None. Manuscript notes: Signature, Kenkai 顕海, on mikaeshi, written in a late-Muromachi hand. Katakana kunten and kaeriten in preface date from Kan'ei period or earlier. Marginal headnotes, furigana and added kanji in red and black throughout text, in a later Edo-period hand.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Original compiler uncertain, but commonly attributed to Zhang Linzhi 張麟之, author of preface to the Song edition dated 1197. Imprint: N.p., Kyōroku 1 享禄元年, 1528. Last 2 lines of batsubun bv Kiyohara Nobukata 清原宣賢 on fol. 44 verso read: 享禄戊子孟冬初一日 ／ 正三位行侍從臣清原朝臣宣賢. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. 8 (自序-2 prefaces by Zhang Linzhi 張麟之, etc.), 44. 27.5 x 19.6 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 22.8-23.2 x 16.2 cm. Double-line borders all round. Vertical rules in preface; elsewhere each page divided into squares by horizontal and vertical rules. Fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, without printed kunten or reading marks. 10 lines to page (preface), 12 lines (main text), 20 characters to line. Pale blue front cover, old but not original, added in late-Edo period. Title slip added at same date, with manuscript gedai: 享禄板韻鏡. No naidai other than preface title: 韻鏡序作, and 韻鑑序例 at end of preface. Hashiragaki: Inkyō 匀竟 + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: A rare copy of the first Japanese edition of this work. Gozan-ban, published in 1528 on the initiative of Sōchū Ronshi 宗仲論師 of the Fumon'in 普門院 at Sakai 堺. Sōchū's involvement in the publication is attested by contemporary records and is mentioned in the batsubun written and signed by Kiyohara Nobukata 清原宣賢 on fol. 44 verso of this copy. Contents: An early Chinese phonological work, compiled in late-Tang or Five Dynasties period, consisting of tables of kanji under sounds in the contemporary Chinese language, arranged in systematic order. Published in China in the Song period (original kanki dated 慶元丁巳, 1197, is reprinted after the preface on fol. 1b of the present copy). This work was subsequently lost in China, but was brought to Japan at some time in the Kamakura period.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Donated to the British Museum by (Sir) Ernest M. Satow 13 June 1885.

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 5. Language, including dictionaries 言語・辞書

Bibliography

Gozanban no kenkyū 五山版の研究, pp. 201, 271-3, 463, pl. 497-8; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 76, 85-6, 682; Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1, p. 244; Kyōroku-ban inkyō ni tsuite 享禄版韻鏡に就いて, in Nihon shoshigaku no kenkyū 日本書誌学之研究, pp. 1701-6.