Jōgan seiyō 貞觀政要 [貞観政要]

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 ORB 30/198
  • Dates of Creation
      1600
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Very good, apart from some faint water-staining and minimal worm damage (repaired). Impression: Sharp and clear. Seals of ownership: Square red seal, Katayama Tsutomu in 片山勤印, impressed in inkoku, on first page of each maki. Manuscript notes: Extensive manuscript notes on 3 folios inserted between front cover and beginning of preface in maki 1. Also manuscript headnotes in black, kunten and kaeriten in black, and shubiki and kutōten in red, all written c. Kan'ei period or earlier, are added copiously throughout the text.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Wu Jing 呉兢, 670-749. Notes and commentary by Ge Zhi 戈直, who annotated the standard text of this work in the Yuan period. Imprint: N.p. [Fushimi 伏見] , Jigen Kutoku 慈眼久德, Keichō 5 慶長五年, 1600. Last 3 lines of kango written by Jōtai (or Shōtai) 承兌 read as follows: 慶長五年星輯庚子花朝節 / 前龍山見鹿苑承兌叟謹誌 / 慈眼久徳刋之. Description: 10 kan, formerly in 10 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (1) ff. 9 (御製序, 集論題辞, 序), 4 (目録), 2 (集論諸儒姓氏), [1] (戈直集論), 49; (2) ff. 100; (3) ff. 65; (4) ff. 58; (5) ff. 64; (6) ff. 56; (7) ff. 43; (8) ff. 42; (9) ff. 42; (10) ff. 40, [1] (跋). 27.8 x 18.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 22.4 x 16.4 cm. (average). Double-line borders all round. Vertical rules between columns. 'Flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text without printed kunten. 7 lines to page (double for commentary), 17 characters to line. Dark green front cover of maki 1 only, old but not original, embossed with a geometrical design. Renewed title slip (late-Edo period) with manuscript gedai: 貞觀政要. Naidai and gedai identical. Hashiragaki: Jōgan 貞觀 + maki no. + folio no. In a modern western style half-leather binding. Edition: Fushimi-ban, printed at Fushimi from wooden movable type by order of Tokugawa Ieyasu. As the kango or batsubun (written and signed by the monk Jōtai (or Shōtai) 承兌) indicates, the revision and editing of the text for publication was entrusted to San'yō 三要 (Genkitsu 元佶) of the Ashikaga Gakkō, who was also involved in the publication of other Fushimi editions such as Kōshi kego 孔子家語 (see ORB.30/170), Sanryaku 三略 and Rikutō 六韜 on Ieyasu's instructions. San'yō used the Ming edition of Chenghua 1 成化元年 (1465) as the basis for this Fushimi-ban. In the last line of Jōtai's kango (quoted under Imprint above) the printer / publisher of this edition is identified as Jigen 慈眼, who was also responsible for the technical side of printing the Fushimi-ban Kōshi kego. Contents: Text of Zhenguan zhengyao 貞觀政要 with commmentary by Ge Zhi. A work on the principles of government and administration, based partly on reported discussions between the first Tang emperor and his ministers. Highly valued for centuries in China and Japan as a practical manual for officials.

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).A. Chinese works 漢籍 6. Law, government, administration and economics 法制・政治・行政・経済

Bibliography

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 213, 273, 382, 694, pl. 19, 615-8; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 1, p. 69; Yonezawa zenpon no kenkyū to kaidai 米沢善本の研究と解題, p. 137, pl. 17; Zushoryō tenseki kaidai, kanseki hen 図書寮典籍解題・漢籍篇, p. 138.