[Sanjūrokkasen] [三十六歌仙]

Variant title: Kasen 歌仙. Author/compiler: Based on the Sanjūrokuninshū 三十六人集 of Fujiwara no Kintō 藤原公任. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [mid-Keichō period, c. 1600-10] . No colophon. Description: 1 kan, 1 satsu, now rebound in 1 vol. western style. ff. [18] (folios unnumbered). 32.1 x 24.9 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame varies between 29.1 and 29.5 x 23.1-23.4 cm. Single-line borders all round. No printed hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text. 6 lines (1 waka poem + signature) to page. Vermilion front cover, probably original, with central title slip added at a later date, sprinkled with squares of kirihaku silver foil. No gedai, printed or manuscript No naidai. Title by analogy with other copies of the same work. In a worn half-leather western style binding. Edition: Saga-bon 嵯峨本, printed from blocks. Kawase in Kokatsujiban no kenkyū and in Saga-bon zukō 嵯峨本図考 distinguishes two main types of edition, the first accepted as a genuine Saga-bon, the second not. The first is classed in three sub-groups, according to the paper used: (1) dyed paper of alternating colours, treated with gofun; (2) gofun-treated paper with colours added later by hand; (3) plain white paper without gofun. The present copy, so far as can be judged by comparison with illustrations of the very few surviving copies in all three sub-groups, appears to belong to sub-group 3. Similarly, it can be accepted as a genuine Saga-bon and not an example of Kawase's Type 2 (printed from re-cut blocks in close imitation of the original edition) in which the illustrations are less finely engraved. So few copies of each type have survived, however, that conclusive identification of the present copy must await further research. Contents: One selected poem by each of the Thirty-six Poets, with accompanying woodcut of the poet. No additional text. Calligraphy of the poems in this Saga edition is reputedly derived from a hanshita in the hand of Hon'ami Kōetsu himself. Portraits of poets begin with Kakinomoto no Hitomaro 柿本人麻呂 and end with Nakatsukasa 中務.

Unrestricted

Acquired from William Anderson, 13 Feb. 1894.

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

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 472-5, 870; Zenpon eifu 善本影譜, series 1, vol. 1; Saga-bon zukō 嵯峨本図考, pp. 83-7, pl. 47-8; Obama bunko kisho chinpon tenkan nyūsatsu mokuroku 小汀文庫稀書珍本展観入札目録, pp. 13, 65; Catalogue of Japanese illustrated books and manuscripts in the Spencer Collection of the New York Public Library, p. 74.