Nijūshi kō 二十四孝

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.81.c.14
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1646
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Paper stained and discoloured in places, otherwise good. Impression: Atozuri, from worn blocks. Illustrations: 24 sumizuri woodcuts occupying the upper one-third of each folio recto. In primitive style, showing traces of Chinese influence. Seals of ownership: Two square red seals, Miyamoto-shi 宮本氏 (yōkoku) and zōsho 藏書 (inkoku), on first and last pages.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., Shōhō 3, 1646. Kanki on fol. 24b reads: 正保三丙戌歳文月吉辰. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, ff. 24. 27.2 x 18.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.3-22 x 16.4 cm. Single-line borders, with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin, around text-matter and illustrations. Hiragana-majiri text, with some printed furigana, dakuten and punctuation points. Heading and two lines of Chinese verse printed inkoku at head of section on each folio. 9 lines to page, 18-22 characters to line. Dark brown covers, old but not original (may even be from a book published earlier than 1646). No title slip or gedai. No naidai. Title from hashiragaki: Nijūshi kō 二十四孝 + folio no. Edition: Other blockprinted editions of this work were published in Kan'ei 9 (1632), Meireki 2 (1656) and Kanbun 5 (1665). There are marked differences in hanshiki, use of kanji and kana, and page layout between this copy and Or.74.cc.6. Headings of sections, printed inkoku, are a distinguishing feature of this edition. Contents: A Japanese version, variously classed as otogi-zōshi, kana-zōshi and kyōkun, of a Chinese original, 全相二十四孝詩選, attributed to Guo Jujing (元) 郭居敬, describing 24 examples of filial piety from Chinese history. This popular version, expressed in simple Japanese, was included in the original collection of 23 otogi-zōshi.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired at ABAJ auction sale, Tōkyō, 1 Feb. 1978.

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 e. Muromachi jidai monogatari 室町時代物語

Bibliography

Nihon bungaku daijiten 日本文学大辞典, vol. 5, pp. 264-5; Sentaku kosho kaidai 選択古書解題, pp. 429-39.