Taihei bukan taizen 太平武鑑大全

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.f.22
  • Dates of Creation
      1689
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Very good. Impression: Sharp and clear, with little evidence of block wear. Illustrations: Small sumizuri sketches of mon along upper edge of maki 上 and in two rows in upper and middle part of folios in maki 下, with military insignia of daimyō families interspersed with text in maki 上. Seals of ownership: Octagonal British Museum stamp, MVSEVM BRITANNICVM, on first and last pages of maki 上 and on mikaeshi of maki 下. Manuscript notes: None in Kaempfer's hand. Note on mikaeshi of maki 上: As far as Chetqua could make himself intelligible / this book seems to contain Symbolical Representations / of the Deity: but this could not be collected from / him with certainty. He says few Chinese can / comprehend it. / Decr. 17. 1770 / Called by A Tong a book of Genealogy. / 25 Novr. 1773. Another note on mikaeshi of maki 下 reads: This Book is difficult to be comprehended by / the Chinese themselves and is supposed to contain some / abstract Doctrines of their Religion. / Examined by Chetqua / Decr. 17. 1770. Old shelfmarks, Pr: Or: 129 and 130, on covers of maki 上 and 下.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N. p., n.d. (preface contains the cyclical date 己巳, almost certainly equivalent to Genroku 2 元禄二年, 1689). No kanki. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, in a box. (Maki 上) ff. 76; (maki 下) ff. 49. 134 x 189 mm. (yokohon). Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 108 x 167 mm. (average). Single-line borders. Single fishtail design on hanshin. Text chiefly in kanji with printed furigana. Preface and batsu in hiragana-majiri. Variable number of lines to page and characters to line. Original dark blue covers, with original title slips on left. Printed gedai: Kaisei (tsunogaki) taihei bukan taizen 改正 (角書) 太平武鑑大全. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki: [no running title] , jō 上 (ge 下) + folio no. Edition: Editions of this work were published in very large numbers during the Edo period, beginning in the Kan'ei period (1624-44) and issued annually from Shōtoku 6 (1716) until the early years of Meiji. Contents: A register containing information on daimyō and hatamoto (direct vassals of the shogunate), listing domains, fiefs, land values in koku 石, official offices and ranks, and other pertinent information. The contents are almost identical with Edo kagami 江戸鑑 (q. v.), with additional data.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Purchased from the estate of Engelbert Kaempfer by Sir Hans Sloane 1723-1725 and incorporated in the British Museum in 1753.

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 8. Literature - poetry 国文-詩歌 d. Jōruri 浄瑠璃

Bibliography

Tōhoku daigaku fuzoku toshokan betchibon mokuroku 東北大学附属図書館別置本目録, p. 53.