Mugonshō 無言抄

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.75.ff.7
  • Dates of Creation
      1623
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Fair to good. No worm damage, but a number of folios are stained or soiled. Impression: Atozuri, from blocks showing some signs of wear. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal of Sir Ernest Satow, 英國薩道藏書, on first page of each maki. Manuscript notes: Shikigo (early Edo period) recording ownership, on last page of maki 中 reads: 所持□精舎蔵 / 正 (花押). Part of this is repeated, with the rest obliterated, on last page of maki 下. Old bookseller's note on front mikaeshi: 三冊金五十文ヤマト / アマ.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Ōgo 應其, Shingon monk, also known as Mokujiki Shōnin 木食上人, 1536-1608. Imprint: N.p. [Kyōto, Sugita Ryōan ?-see under Edition below] , Genna 9, 1623. Kanki on last folio of maki 下 reads: 元和九年正月中旬. Description: 3 kan, formerly in 3 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. Folios unnumbered. 27.9 x 19.2 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.5 x 17.8 cm. (average). No borders. No printed hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text. Words and phrases from renga poems printed in large script; explanatory text in smaller size. 8-9 lines to page (large characters), 14-16 lines (small characters), variable number of characters to line. Original dark blackish-brown front cover of satsu 上 only, with original printed title slip (damaged). Gedai: Mugonshō jō 無言抄 上. Title from naidai at head of each maki. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: The earliest blockprinted edition of this work, following movable type editions of Keichō period. Copies of this Genna 9 (1623) edition held by Tenri (Wataya Bunko) and Yonezawa Toshokan include the publisher's name, Gentarō 源太郎, in the kanki. This is missing from the present copy. Contents: A collection of words and phrases suitable for use in composing renga 連歌 poetry, grouped in various categories, with rules governing the composition of renga.

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). C. Japanese works 和書 7. Literature - poetry 国文-詩歌 c. Renga 連歌

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 5, p. 664; Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, p. 558; Wataya bunko renga haikaisho mokuroku 綿屋文庫連歌俳諧書目録, p. 2; Yonezawa zenpon no kenkyū to kaidai 米沢善本の研究と解題, p. 319; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, p. 147 (recording a seihan edition without kanki).