Kiyomizu monogatari 清水物語

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.75.g.5
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1638
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: A few stains (notably ff. 16-20 of maki 上), otherwise good. Negligible worm damage towards end. Impression: For the most part sharp and clear, but blocks show some signs of wear. Seals of ownership: Square red seal, Haku-shi tosho 白氏圖書, over-written (like the gedai) with black ink, impressed on title slip on front cover. Small circular black seal, Hōyō 豊葉 (early Edo period ?) on first page of each maki.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Asayama Irin'an 朝山意林庵, also known as Soshin 素心, Confucian scholar of Kyōto, 1589-1664. Imprint: N.p., Kan'ei 15, 1638. Kanki on fol. 34a reads: 寛永拾五戊寅十月吉旦開之. Description: 2 kan, formerly in 2 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. (上) ff. 34; (下) ff. 34. 26.3 x 17.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.4 x 16.1 cm. No borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with printed furigana. 11 lines to page, 19-22 characters to line. Original vermilion front cover of satsu 上 and back cover of satsu 下, faintly embossed with a pattern, now badly rubbed. Original printed title slip, with original gedai over-written in black ink. Gedai reads: 清水物語 上. Naidai and gedai identical. Hashiragaki: Kiyomizu jō (ge) 清水上 (下) + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: First recorded edition of this work, followed by further seihan editions in Shōhō 2 (1645) and Tenna 2 (1682). Publisher's name not given. Contents: A series of debates on the respective merits of Confucianism and Buddhism, in which Confucianism comes off best. Generally classed as a kana-zōshi work, but wholly didactic in character. Preface by the author on fol. 1.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Ernest M. Satow, 22 Sept. 1884.

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 f. Kana-zōshi 仮名草子

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 221; Edo bungaku zuroku 江戸文学図録, p. 5, pl. 11-12; Kinsei bungaku mikanbon sōsho, kana-zōshi hen 近世文学未刊本叢書• 仮名草子編, p. 9.