Nihon shoki 日本書紀

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.64.d.4
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1610
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 1 volume Condition: Very good. Minimal worm damage, neatly repaired. Last folio (fol. 13) of maki 5 has been bound in upside down. Impression: Some evidence of type wear. Seals of ownership: None. Manuscript notes: Katakana kunten and some kanbun headnotes and interlinear glosses in maki 1 and 2 (up to fol. 8) only, written in an early-Edo period hand. Kutōten in red ink up to the end of maki 2.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Corporate compilation. Imprint: Rakuzei [Kyōto] , Sanpaku, Keichō 15, 1610. Kanki on fol. 34a of maki 30 reads: 慶長十五庚戌仲夏念八 ／ 洛汭野子三白誌. Description: 30 kan, formerly in 15 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. (western style). 25.8 x 20.5 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 23.2 x 16.6 cm. Double-line borders round all four sides, with fishtail design on hanshin. Kanbun text without printed kunten. 8 lines to page, 18 characters to line. Pale buff covers, old but not original, of maki 1 and 2 ( = satsu 1 and 2) only, within a modern half-leather western style binding. Handwritten title slip on left, with gedai: Nihon shoki 1 日本書紀一. Hashiragaki: Nihongi 日本紀 + maki no.＋folio no. Edition: First completely uniform edition of Nihon shoki, printed in Keichō 15 (1610), differing from copy at Or.64.d.3 in that maki 1-2 are not printed from type set up for a separately published edition of Jindai no maki 神代巻 only, but are of newly-composed type from the same font, integral with the hanshiki of maki 3-30. Contents: The earliest official history of Japan, written in classical Chinese, covering events from the mythical ''age of the gods'' to the reign of Empress Jitō (686-97). Compiled by various hands and completed c. 720.

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 9. History and biography 歴史・伝記 a. Early records 古代史

Bibliography

See no. 506 above. Also Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pl. 512-3, 992-3.