Author/compiler: Yoshida Kenkō 吉田兼好, c. 1283-1352, known as Kenkō Hōshi 兼好法師. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Saga, near Kyōto, Keichō period, c. 1600-15] . No colophon. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu. Folios unnumbered. 27.7 x 21 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 22 x 17.8 cm. No borders. No printed hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with manuscript furigana (katakana) in places and manuscript kutōten in red (early Edo period). 10 lines to page, 17-18 characters to line. Pale blue-grey covers, old but not original, overprinted with a faint design of interlacing grasses in mica. No title slips. No naidai or gedai. In a modern blue silk chitsu case, with ornamented but unlettered central slip. Edition: Saga-bon, using movable type based on the calligraphy of Hon'ami Kōetsu 本阿彌光悦. Kawase Kazuma in Kokatsujiban no kenkyū classifies the Saga-bon editions of Tsurezuregusa into five groups, of which the first two are printed on thin ganpi paper ornamented with mica designs, and the remaining three on plain paper. Of these, the present copy clearly belongs to Type 4 (第四種本), and is printed on plain kōzo paper. The same font of movable type was used for printing each of Types 1-4, the type being re-set with minor changes for each edition. By the time Type 4 was reached, the original font had suffered considerable wear. Contents: A miscellany of short notes, anecdotes, meditative jottings, reminiscences and fragments of narrative, composed c. 1330.
Tsurezuregusa 徒然草
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.74.c.10
- Dates of Creation
- [1600-1615]
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 2 volumes Condition: Fair. Worm damage, mostly unrepaired. Water staining throughout both maki. Slight damage to lower corners at beginning and end of each maki, repaired by urauchi. Impression: Marked signs of type wear (thickening and coarsening of strokes), consequent on the above. Seals of ownership: Square red seal, Kaji (or Kachi) zōsho no in 加地藏書之印 on first page of each satsu. Same seal repeated, with another, 蔵書者加地源弌郎印, on last folio verso of each satsu.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Presented by the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Kishi Nobusuke, in January 1960.
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 6. Literature - prose 国文-散文 b. Zuihitsu 随筆
Bibliography
Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 446-8, 501, 523-5, 856, 892, pl. 878; Ryūmon bunko zenpon shomoku 竜門文庫善本書目, p. 146; Saga-bon zukō 嵯峨本図考, pp. 53-6; Zenpon eifu 善本影譜, series 2, vol. 4; Naikaku bunko kokusho bunrui mokuroku 内閣文庫国書分類目録, p. 266.