Taiheiki 太平記

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.64.b.36
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1610
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 10 volumes Condition: Fair to good. Minor worm damage throughout, much of it repaired. Impression: Uneven. Some type wear, and over- or under-inking of type is apparent in places. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal, Ogiwara bunko 荻原文庫, on first page of many, but not all, maki. A different oblong red seal, Sekine zōsho 關根藏書 appears on first page of maki 17 only. Manuscript notes: Some manuscript kunten and reading marks in black and red scattered throughout the text.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., Shunshi (or Shunki), Keichō 15, 1610. Kanki on fol. 1l of maki 40 reads: 慶長十五暦庚戌二月上旬日 春枝開板. Description: 40 kan, 10 satsu (4 kan to each satsu). 28 x 20.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 23.3-23.5 x 17.5 cm. Single-line borders with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Katakana-majiri text without printed furigana. 12 lines to page, 23-25 characters to line. Vermilion covers of early Edo period, perhaps original, with embossed rhomboid pattern. Title slips missing, except for fragments remaining on satsu 1 and 10. No gedai. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: Taiheiki 太平記 + maki no. + folio no. In two chitsu cases of floral brocade. Edition: Taiheiki was the earliest work of classical Japanese literature to be printed, and also the most frequently reprinted. The present edition of Keichō 15 (1610) follows earlier movable type katakana-majiri editions dated Keichō 7 (1602), Keichō 8 (1603), Keichō 10 (1605) and Keichō 12 (1607). Contents: A quasi-historical chronicle (gunki monogatari 軍記物語) recounting the troubled history of conflict between the Northern and Southern Courts, 1318-67. Embellished with tales from Buddhist mythology and the Chinese classics. Completed c. 1370.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Kōbunsō, 9 June 1972.

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 5. Literature - fiction 国文-小説 d. Gunki monogatari 軍記物語

Bibliography

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 223, 402, 542-5, 899; Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 4, pp. 105-11; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, p. 63; Takagi bunko kokatsuji-ban mokuroku 高木文庫古活字版目録, p. 20, pl. 22; Kōbunsō kokatsuji-ban mokuroku 弘文荘古活字版目録, p. 68.