Sanjūrokkasen 三十六歌仙

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 ORB 30/306
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1696
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 2 volumes Condition: Fair. Maki 下 marred by torn first folio and water stains. Worm damage in both maki. Impression: Sharp and clear, near-shozuri. Illustrations: Portrait of each poet (and text of one of his poems) on each folio, recto or verso, and a sumizuri woodcut illustrating the poem on the opposite page. Illustrations unsigned but reliably attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu 菱川師宣. Seals of ownership: None, apart from round British Museum stamp (dated 1938) and square ex-libris stamp of the Samuel Tuke Collection, ST.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: Edo, Sudō Gonbē, Genroku 9, 1696. Kanki on last folio verso reads: 元禄九丙子歳卯月吉祥日 ／ 江戸橋中通川瀬石町山口屋 ／ 須藤權兵衞開版. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, in a buckram chitsu case. 26.9 x 18.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Renewed (18th century ?) mid-blue covers, decorated with a painted design of trees and grasses in silver. No title slips. No naidai. Title from first line of preface. Edition: This is the only edition so far located, between the Saga-bon of Keichō period and the edition illustrated by Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章, published in 1789. Preface signed Tōsenshi 桃仙子. Contents: Selected poems and portraits of the Thirty-six Poets, beginning with Kakinomoto no Hitomaro 柿本人麻呂 and ending with Nakatsukasa 中務. Opposite each portrait and poem appears a brief biographical note on the poet, a comment on the poem and a scene from it.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Purchased by the British Museum from E. W. Tuke in 1938.

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 7. Literature - poetry 国文-詩歌 b. Waka 和歌

Bibliography

Descriptive catalogue of Japanese and Chinese illustrated books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago , pp. 111-2.