Kōshoku gonin onna 好色五人女

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.75.g.18
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1686
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Fair. Minimal worm damage, confined to upper margins of maki 5. Many folios are soiled, especially at lower fore-edge, and some are stained. Whole book re-backed by urauchi, but in many cases folios are split along fore-edge, and backing paper no longer adheres to half-leaf on either side. Many of the illustrations are mutilated by cutting out parts which once contained manuscript notes. Outer edge of fol. 18, maki 1, and fol. 21, maki 3, damaged, resulting in loss of line 11 and part of line 10 in the latter. Impression: An early impression from comparatively little-worn blocks. Illustrations: Double-page and a few single-page sumizuri illustrations in: (maki 1) ff. 4b-5a, 8b-9a, 11b-12a, 15b-16a; (maki 2) ff. 3b-4a, 8b, 9b-10a, 16b, 20b-21a; (maki 3) ff. 5b-6a, 10b, 12b-13a, 17b-18a; (maki 4) ff. 5b-6a, 9b-10a, 又 10a, 13b-15a, 17b-18a, 20b; (maki 5) ff. 4b-5a, 7b, 11b-12a, 15a, 18a. Illustrations generally attributed to Yoshida Hanbē 吉田半兵衞. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal of Sir Ernest Satow, 英國薩道藏書; oval red seal of Iwamoto Kattōshi 岩本活東子 (=Darumaya Goichi), Taikadō 待賈堂; square red seal, Baien bunko 梅園文庫; small circular red seal, Hakuboku 白墨: all on first page of maki 1 and of maki 3. Small square red seal, Kyoku 旭, on first page of maki 1 and last page of maki 5. Large red seal in a decorative frame, 江戸四日市古今珍書僧達摩屋五一, another seal used by Darumaya Goichi 達摩屋五一, on last page of maki 5. Manuscript notes: Shikigo in red ink on mikaeshi, written and signed by Baien, dated Tenpō 3 (1832), recording the receipt of this valuable book for his collection from Ishizuka Hōkaishi 石塚豊芥子.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Ihara Saikaku 井原西鶴, 1642-93. Illustrator: Not named, but in the style of Yoshida Hanbē 吉田半兵衞. Imprint: Ōsaka, Morita Shōtarō, Jōkyō 3, 1686. Kanki on last page of maki 5 reads: 貞享三龍集丙寅歳仲春上旬日 ／ 攝刕書肆北御堂前森田庄太郎板. Description: 5 kan, formerly in 2 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (1) ff. 1 (目録), 2-18 (本文); (2) ff. 1 (目録), 2-22; (3) ff. 1 (目録), 2-21; (4) ff. 1 (目録), 2-13, 15-20; (5) ff. 1 (目録), 2-18. (N.b. Fol. 14 of maki 4 is omitted in the numbering of folios. Instead, a folio numbered 10 bis 又十 appears between ff. 10 and 11. In this copy, fol. 10 of maki 5 has been incorrectly bound between ff. 20 and 21 of maki 3.) 22.3 x 16.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 19.5 x 14.8 cm. (average). Single-line borders all round (including illustrations). 'Flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with printed furigana and dakuten. 11 lines to page, 21-24 characters to line. Renewed front cover (late-Edo period) of satsu 1 only, diagonally striped in grey and off-white. Renewed title slip, contemporary with cover, with manuscript gedai: 貞享刋行好色五人女. Title from naidai at head of mokuroku of each maki. No naidai at head of main text (本文). Hashiragaki: Gonin onna 五人女 + maki no. + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: First edition, and the only edition published under this title. This Jōkyō 3 (1686) edition was issued in two printings, one with imprint as above and the other published jointly (in Edo) by Yorozuya Seibē 萬屋清兵衞 and Morita Shōtarō 森田庄太郎. Contents: One of Saikaku's most celebrated ukiyo-zōshi novels of kōshokumono 好色物 type. Contents of each maki are self-contained and stand independently of the other stories, all of which are amorous tales of the pleasure quarters.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from William Anderson, 13 Feb. 1894.

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 g. Ukiyo-zōshi 浮世草子

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 499; Saikaku 西鶴, p. 116, pl. 294-8; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, p. 75: Kōshoku gonin onna 好色五人女 facsimile reproduction of the Edo / Ōsaka joint edition of Yorozuya Seibē and Morita Shōtarō.