Wakan kōtō hennen gōunzu 倭漢皇統編年合運圖 [倭漢皇統編年合運図]

Variant title: Wakan nendaiki 倭漢年代記. Variant title: Jūsen wakan kōtō hennen gōunzu 重撰倭漢皇統編年合運圖 [重撰倭漢皇統編年合運図]. Author/compiler: Enchi 圓智, Nichiren monk, also known as Nisshō 日性, 1554-1614. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [most probably Keichō 5 (1600) -see notes under Edition below] . No colophon. Description: 2 kan, formerly in 2 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (上) ff. [1] , 15, 54; (下) ff. 74. 30.7 x 21 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 29.4 x 17.8 cm. (average). Single-line borders all round. Vertical rules between columns. Each page divided into upper and lower sections, separated by horizontal rules. 'Flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, without printed kunten or reading marks. 11-12 lines to page (large characters), double for smaller ji, 24-26 characters to line. Dark brown shibubiki front cover of satsu 上 only, renewed c. mid-Edo period. No title slip. Manuscript gedai (also mid-Edo) : Wakan nendaiki 倭漢年代記. Title at head of honmon (maki 上) : Jūsen wakan kōtō hennen gōunzu 重撰倭漢皇統編年合運圖. Hashiragaki: Nendaiki jō (ge) 年代紀上 (下) + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: Yōhōji-ban 要法寺版, published at the Yōhōji, Kyōto, by the Nichiren monk Enchi 圓智 (Nisshō 日性) who also compiled the work. Other works issued from the Yōhōji by Enchi, one of the most active publishers of movable type editions in the Keichō period, included Ganso Renkō satta ryakuden 元祖蓮公薩埵略傳 and Shasekishū 沙石集 (q. v.). Although undated, the present edition of Wakan kōtō hennen gōunzu can be confidently attributed to the latter part of Keichō 5, 1600. In that year two editions were published, of which the present copy belongs to the first edition, printed with minor revisions from re-set type, was used as the basis for 4 further movable type editions published in Keichō 8, 10 and 16. This work was evidently in great demand during the Edo period and, in various versions, went through a very large number of editions, both movable type and blockprinted, most of them updating the previous edition. Contents: Comparative chronological tables of Japan and China from the reign of Jinmu Tennō up to Keichō 5 慶長五年 (1600). Text preceded by (1) a blockprinted genealogical table of Japanese emperors, entitled 大日本國帝系略圖, and (2) brief biographies of the first 108 emperors of Japan, in 15 folios, entitled 大日本國帝王略紀. Main text shows events in Japan in the upper part of each page and events in China in the lower.

Unrestricted

Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 22 Sept. 1884

Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). C. Japanese works 和書 9. History and biography 歴史・伝記 d. Chronology and calendars 歴史年表・暦学

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 259-62, 702, pl. 53; Keiō gijuku toshokan-zō wakanjo zenpon kaidai 慶応義塾図書館蔵和漢書善本解題, p. 144; Kokuritsu kokkai toshokan shozō kichōsho kaidai 国立国会図書館所蔵貴重書解題, vol. 2, p. 22.