Aki no yonaga monogatari 秋の夜長物語

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.75.g.4
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1642
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Good, apart from worm damage along fore-edges and towards spine, not affecting text. Ff. 1-4 repaired by urauchi patching. Impression: Atozuri, from markedly worn blocks. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal of Sir Ernest Satow, 英國薩道藏書 (his small seal), on first page of text.

Scope and Content

Alternative reading of title: Aki no yo no naga monogatari. Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Yasuda Jūbē, Kan'ei 19, 1642. Kanki on fol. 28b reads: 寛永十九年五月日 安田十兵衛. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. 28. 25.4 x 17.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.6 x 16.4 cm. (average). Single-line borders all round. 'Flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with printed furigana. 11 lines to page, 23 characters to line. Renewed (early Meiji period) light brown shibubiki front cover only, without title slip. Manuscript gedai: 秋の夜長物語. Title from naidai, with reading indicated in furigana. Hashiragaki: Aki no yo 秋の夜 + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: The earliest blockprinted edition, following two movable type editions of Keichō / Genna period. Contents: Otogi-zōshi tale of the type known as chigo monogatari 稚児物語, written by an unknown hand in the Nanbokuchō (possibly Ōei 応永) period. It tells of the love of Keikai 桂海 , a priest of Hieizan, afterwards known as Sensai Shōnin 瞻西上人 for a youth, Umewaka 梅若, and the tragic consequences of their liaison.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Donated to the British Museum by (Sir) Ernest M. Satow 13 June 1885.

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 koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1 , p. 26; Nihon bungaku shoshi 日本文学書誌, p. 656; Chigo monogatari: love stories or Buddhist sermons ?, in Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 35, no. 2 (includes a translation of this work).