Chadō benmōshō 茶道便蒙鈔

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 16115.f.9
  • Dates of Creation
    • [1688-1704]
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Poor to fair. Marred by worm damage, annotations and soiled folios. Impression: Blocks show little sign of wear. Illustrations: Sumizuri sketches of teahouse plans and tea vessels on ff. 3-45 of maki 5. Seals of ownership: None. Manuscript notes: Copious annotations in red ink throughout the book.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Yamada Sōhen 山田宗徧. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Genroku period, 1688-1704 ?] . No colophon. First preface dated Jōkyō 3 貞享三年 (1686), second preface dated Jōkyō 2 貞享二年 (1685). Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, in a box. Incomplete copy: maki 5 (of 5 kan) only, preceded by the 2 prefaces presumably from maki 1. ff. 2 (preface), 2 (preface), 1 (mokuroku), 3-44. 27.1 x 20.2 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame variable. No borders, except round teahouse plans on each page or mihiraki. No fishtail design on hanshin. Katakana-majiri text, and kanbun text in prefaces. Variable number of lines to page and characters to line. Renewed covers of white paper. No gedai, Title from mokurokudai. No other naidai. Hashiragaki: obliterated on every folio with black ink, but the running title 便蒙抄巻五 is faintly visible, followed by folio no. Edition: The earliest recorded edition is that of Genroku 3 (1690), but the present copy differs from it. It is not even a complete copy of maki 5, since it lacks ff. 1-2 and all folios (including kanki) after fol. 44. Positive identification of edition therefore remains in doubt. It may be identical with the 1-kan copy dated Bunsei 10 (1827). Contents: An introductory work on the tea ceremony by one of the most celebrated tea masters of the Edo period.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired at Glendining's sale, London, 22 March 1956.

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 18. Amateur arts 諸芸 a. Tea ceremony 茶道

Bibliography

Text reprinted in Chadō zenshū 茶道全集, vol. 12.