Shittan jiki 悉曇字記

Author/compiler: Zhiguang 智廣, Chinese monk, d. 806. Imprint: N.p., Kanbun 9, 1669. Oku on fol. 28b reads: 寛文己酉仲秋日開焉釋澄禪. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, bound with a copy of Shittan renjōshū 悉曇連聲集 (see under Contents below) in 1 vol. western style. ff. 28. 25.9 x 18.6 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 20.5 x 14.7 cm. Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, with printed kunten, kaeriten and kutōten, interspersed with siddham characters. 7 lines to page (large characters), 14 lines (smaller characters), 13 characters to line. Dark blue front cover only, with printed title slip bearing gedai: 悉曇字記. Title from naidai and gedai. Hashiragaki: Jiki 字記 + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: According to Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 仏書解説大辞典, this is the second blockprinted edition of the Edo period, preceded by one in Kanbun 2 (1662) and by a number of pre-Edo editions. The earliest was a Kōya-ban dated Kōan 3 弘安三年 (1280). Contents: An early Chinese work of instruction on the siddham script and its use in Buddhist literature, written in late-8th or early 9th century. Bound in with this work in the present copy is another copy of Chōzen's (澄禪) work on a similar subject, Shittan renjōshū 悉曇連聲集, published in Kanbun 8 (1668). (See description under this title, no. 187.).

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Acquired from Alexander von Siebold, 22 July 1868.

Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993).B. Buddhist works 仏書 9. Shingon sect 真言宗

Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 仏書解説大辞典, vol. 4, p. 347; Mikkyō daijiten 密教大辞典, vol. 2, p. 998.