Kuyamigusa 悔草

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 16107.h.13
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1669
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 3 volumes Condition: Fair. No worm damage, but some folios soiled and stained, especially in maki 下. Most folios split along fore-edge, unrepaired. Impression: Sharp and clear, near-shozuri. Illustrations: A total of 9 single-page sumizuri illustrations, 3 to each maki. Seals of ownership: None, but a kashihon'ya stamp of Ōsakaya, 魚沼郡 ／ 大坂屋 ／ 水口村, is impressed on first and last pages of each maki.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Inoue Kozaemon 井上小左衞門, fl. c. 1630-50. 日本古典文学大辞典. Imprint: [Edo] , Shōkai 松會, Kanbun 9, 1669. Kanki on fol. 18a of maki 下 reads: 寛文九歳五月吉旦 ／ 松會開板. Description: 3 kan, 3 satsu, in a chitsu case. (Maki 上) ff. 21; (中) ff. 19; (下) ff. 18. 27.3 x 18.9 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 22.8 x 17.2 cm. (average). Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, with printed furigana, dakuten and kutōten. 14 lines to page, 26-28 characters to line. Original mid-blue covers, rubbed and damaged. Title slips missing, hence no gedai. Title from preface, mokurokudai, bidai and naidai at head of text in each maki. Hashiragaki: Kuyami jō (chū, ge) くやミ 上 (中, 下) + folio no. Edition: The fourth recorded edition. Shōkai 松會 editions were published at Edo in Kanbun 9 (1669) the present copy and again in Enpō 8 (1680). Earlier editions were published in Shōhō 4 (1647), reprinted in Keian 2 (1649) and Manji 2 (1659). Contents: A didactic kana-zōshi work, in style resembling a zuihitsu, containing the author's regrets at past misdeeds, with warnings to his descendants to learn lessons from them.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Rinrōkaku, 31 Jan. 1967.

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 f. Kana-zōshi 仮名草子

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 304; Kinsei bungaku mikanbon sōsho, kana-zōshi hen 近世文学未刊本叢書・仮名草子編, pp. 4-6, 117-72 (reprint of text).