Kagakushū 下學集 [下学集]

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.59.b.2
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1617
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Fair. Some stains and brown embrittlement on hanshin. Impression: Reasonably clear and sharp, but blocks show some signs of wear. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal of Sir Ernest Satow, 英國薩道藏書, on first page of maki 上.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Genna 4-5, 1618-19?]. Kanki on fol. 49b of maki 下 reads: 元和三年丁巳孟夏. (See notes on Edition below. Kanki in other copies of the fukkoku-bon adds the following: 吉旦梓焉.). Description: 2 kan, 1 satsu, rebound in 1 vol. western style. (Maki 上) ff. 31; (下) ff. 49. 26.7 x 18.3 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 23.8 x 17.8 cm. Single-line borders with 'flower petal' fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text, with printed kundoku, okurigana and kaeriten. 7 lines (large characters) or 14 lines (small characters) to page, 18 large characters to line. Original mid-blue front cover only, title slip missing. Gedai (handwritten): Genna hanpon (tsunogaki) kagakushū 元和版本 (角書) 下學之上下. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: Kagaku no jō (ge) 下學之上 (下) + folio no. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: According to Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究, p. 654, this is a reprint from recut blocks (fukkoku 覆刻) of the first edition, also dated Genna 3 (1617) but probably issued a year or two later. The latter has the publisher's name Sugita Ryōan 杉田良菴 included in the kanki. Sugita's imprint in the first edition reads: 杉田良菴玄與開板. Further editions followed the present fukkoku-bon in Kan'ei 10 (1633), Kan'ei 12 (1635) and Kan'ei 20 (1643). Contents: An early Chinese-Japanese dictionary, classified in 18 sections, with kun readings and explanatory notes on the kanji written in kanbun. Compiled in Bun'an 1 文安元年 (1444), possibly by Tōroku Hanō 東麓破衲 who wrote and signed the preface (ff. 1-3).

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Donated 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 3. Language 言語 a. Dictionaries and script 辞書・字書

Bibliography

Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究, pp. 653-9; Daitōkyū kinen bunko kichōsho kaidai 大東急記念文庫貴重書解題, vol. 3, p.145.