Ō-zassho 大雜書

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.75.f.12
  • Dates of Creation
    • [1655-1658]
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Very good, a part from brown stains on a few pages, and opening page soiled by rubbing. No worm damage. Impression: Clear and sharp, shozuri or near. Illustrations: A sumizuri frontispiece on fol. 1a, depicting the mythical Mount Sumeru (Jpn. Sumisen (Shumisen) no zu 須彌山之圖). Two diagrams representing phases of the moon and the sexagenary cycle. 25 small sumizuri vignettes, 3 to the page, on ff. 30b-34b. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal, Kuchiki bunko 朽木文庫 (seal of Kuchiki Tsunayasu 朽木綱泰) on first page.

Scope and Content

Alternative reading of title: Dai zassho. Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: [Edo] , Shōkai 松會, n.d. [c. Meireki period, 1655-58] . Kango at end of text on fol. 38 verso reads: 右此ざつ書の首書は安倍清明傳之極秘密之書といへ共 ／ 今爰に上る板行者也 ／ 正月吉日 枩會開板. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. 38. 24.5 x 17.6 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.9-22.4 x 16 cm. Single-line borders. Text area (including illustrations) spaced by horizontal and vertical lines. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text in a cursive form of script. 24 lines to page in upper third of text area and last 3 folios; 16 lines to page elsewhere. Variable number of characters to line. Yellow front cover only (renewed late-Edo period), embossed with a flower and tendril pattern. Added title slip on left, with manuscript gedai: Ō-zassho 大雜書. No naidai; title from gedai. No hashiragaki; only folio no. on hanshin. In a western style half-leather binding. Edition: This edition not recorded. Kokusho sōmokuroku 国書総目録 notes a Kan'ei 9 (1632) edition in Kokkai and later editions of Meireki 2 (1656), Kanbun 2 (1662), Jōkyō 4 (1687) and Genroku 6 (1693). An earlier edition published in Kan'ei 13 (1636) is noted in Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1, p. 437, having the following batsubun: 此万年暦世間に有といへども, 過ち多き故, 改めんとて新板に開板. The library holding this edition is not identified. Contents: A miscellany of calendar lore, popular astronomy and divination, drawn from sources such as Sanzesō 三世相, Mannen-goyomi 萬年曆, etc. (cf. no. 626, Fuku zassho ふくざっしょ).

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 18. Amateur arts 諸芸 c. Divination and astrology 占卜・占星・暦法

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1, p. 437; Naikaku bunko kokusho bunrui mokuroku 内閣文庫国書分類目録, p. 1075.