Wamyō ruijushō 倭名類聚鈔

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.e.10
  • Dates of Creation
      1617
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Excellent. A clean copy, free from worm damage (except in maki 2). Impression: From unworn type. Seals of ownership: Oblong greyish-brown seal, Kojima-shi toshoin 小島氏圖書印 (seal of Kojima Naozane 小島尚眞) on first page of each former satsu and also on last page of maki 20. Manuscript notes: Katakana kunten in black and shubiki and kutōten in red, dating from Kan'ei period or earlier, added to prefatory material only, preceding main text. A small paper slip pasted on blank leaf at head of book has the following note in two hands, red and black: 活板和名鈔朱書入寫 / 嘉永四年 ... 九月十四日書写成 / 慶應元年乙丑五月廿七日押紙畢. This refers to the annotations in red on thin paper pasted to upper margins, indicating textual variants after collating with the Ise-bon 伊勢本 and Onkodō-bon 温故堂本 manuscripts of this work. Kawase surmises that these notes have been transcribed from a text revised in red by Kariya Ekisai 狩谷棭齋.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Wamyōshō 倭名鈔. Variant title: Wamyōshō 和名鈔. Author/compiler: Minamoto no Shitagō 源順, 911-83. Imprint: N.p., n.d. No kanki. Last two lines of preface by Hayashi Razan 林羅山 (羅浮) dated Genna 3 (1617) read: 元和三年丁巳冬十一月 日 羅浮 / 散人洗筆於雲母谿清處. Description: 20 kan, formerly in 5 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (Satsu 1) ff. 3 (preface by Hayashi Razan 林羅山 = 羅浮散人), 1 (hanrei 凡例 by the publisher, Nawa Dōen 那波道圓), 3 (original preface by Minamoto no Shitagō 源順), maki 1-4; (satsu 2) maki 5-8; (satsu 3) maki 9-12; (satsu 4) maki 13-17; (satsu 5) maki 18-20. 28.3 x 20.2 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 23.5 x 17.3 cm. (average). Double-line borders all round. 'Flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text without printed kunten, in a rounded form of script. 9 lines to page (double for notes), 16 characters to line. All covers missing, hence no gedai. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Title at head of Razan's preface: 題倭名鈔. At head of Nawa Dōen's hanrei: 新刻倭名類聚鈔凡例. Hashiragaki: Wamyō 和名 + maki no. + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: The earliest printed text of this work, and the only movable type edition. Text revised and published by Nawa Dōen 那波道圓 towards the end of Genna 3, 1617 (see Hayashi Razan's preface), or very soon afterwards. Printed from the same font of type as that employed for the Genna 4 (1618) edition of Haku-shi monjū 白氏文集 (ORB.30/202), also published by Nawa Dōen. Blockprinted editions followed in Keian 1 (1648), Manji 2 (1659), Kanbun 11 (1671), etc. Contents: An early Chinese-Japanese dictionary, classified according to meaning, with examples of use drawn from Chinese literary works and with Japanese kun reading indicated in man'yōgana 万葉仮名. Compiled in Jōhei 承平 period, between 931 and 938.

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

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 487, 576, 917, pl. 504; Kokuritsu kokkai toshokan shozō kichōsho kaidai 国立国会図書館所蔵貴重書解題, vol. 2, pp. 43-4; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, p. 142; Ryūmon bunko zenpon shomoku 竜門文庫善本書目, p. 163; Tenri toshokan kisho mokuroku 天理図書館稀書目録 vol. 3, pp. 6-7; Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 6, p. 361.