Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p. [Kyōto?] , Ekirin, Keichō 2, 1597. Last line of batsubun on fol. 72b of maki 下 reads: 慶長二丁酉易林誌. (Date of Ekirin's revision, not of printing.). Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, bound in 1 vol. (western style). (上) ff. 68; (下) ff. 72. 26.8 x 21 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 23.8 x 18.2 cm. Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin, text in kanji, with printed on and kun readings in katakana. Headings of main divisions (in iroha order) and classified subdivisions are outlined in red stamped quatrefoils and red rectangles. A similar red stamp surrounds the year-period Keichō in the colophon. Reading marks in red throughout the text. 7 lines to page, 14-16 characters to line. Coarse grey front cover (not original, but of early date) of maki 上 only, within modern western style half-leather binding. No title slip. Manuscript gedai in a late-Edo hand: 節用集乾. Title from naidai. Hashiragaki: Setsuyōshū jō 節用集上 (ge 下) + folio no. Edition: A copy of the Ekirin-bon Setsuyōshū 易林本節用集, first edition (初版). It should be noted that the date Keichō 2, 1597 does not refer to the date of printing, but of Ekirin's revision. Contents: Japanese dictionary compiled in the mid-15th century, reflecting the spoken language of the Muromachi period and showing how kanji are to be written and read. Kanji are arranged in iroha イロハ order, with a uniform classification under each iroha syllable. A simpler dictionary to use than its precursors, such as Kagakushū 下學集.
Setsuyōshū 節用集
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.59.d.18
- Dates of Creation
- 1597
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 1 volume Condition: Good, apart from some wormed folios at beginning and end of both maki. Every folio rebacked, including endpapers, thus repairing worm damage. Impression: Sharp and clear, with only occasional signs of type wear. Seals of ownership: Red oblong seal of Sir Ernest Satow, 英國薩道藏書, on first page of maki 上 and 下. Manuscript notes: Chinese poems in large script on front and back endpapers of both satsu. Signatures 師生 and 主大外史師生, possibly in the same (early Edo period) hand as the poems, appear on mikaeshi of maki 上 and last printed page of maki 下 respectively. A short letter in a late-Edo hand has been pasted on the front cover of satsu 上.
Scope and Content
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 3. Language 言語 a. Dictionaries and script 辞書・字書
Bibliography
Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 3, pp. 621-2; Kojisho no kenkyū 古辞書の研究, passim; Kohon setsuyōshū no kenkyū 古本節用集の研究, pp. 83-92; Ekirin-bon Koyama-ban setsuyōshū 易林本小山板節用集; Kohon setsuyōshū rokushu kenkyū narabini sōgō sakuin 古本節用集六種研究並びに総合索引; Tenri toshokan zenpon sōsho, washo no bu 天理図書館善本叢書・和書の部, vol. 21 (facsim. reprint of first edition).