Hosokawa chanoyu no sho 細川茶湯之書

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 16115.f.11
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1668
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 5 volumes Condition: Generally good, except for worm damage in satsu 1-3 and brown stains in upper margins of satsu 2. Impression: Atozuri from slightly worn blocks. Illustrations: Simple sketches on ff. 26-29 of maki 上 illustrating tea utensils and their placing in the tearoom. Seals of ownership: None.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Hosokawa Tadaoki 細川忠興, also known as Sansai 三齋, 1563-1645. Imprint: N.p., Kanbun 8, 1668. Publisher not named. Kanki on fol. 39b of maki 下 reads: 寛文八戊申孟春吉旦開板. Description: 3 kan, 5 satsu, in a box. (Satsu 1) inaki 上, ff. 1-20; (satsu 2) maki 上, ff. 21-43; (satsu 3) maki 中, ff. 1-25; (satsu 4) maki 中, ff. 26-52; (satsu 5) maki 下, ff. 39. 22.5 x 14.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 16.7 x 11.9 cm. Single-line borders. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, with dakuten and a few furigana. 9 lines to page, 18-20 characters to line. Original light fawn covers, with remains of original title slips on satsu 1 and 2. Gedai printed over mica-painted title slips: 細川三齋茶湯之書. Title from gedai and from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki: Cha jō (chū, ge) 茶上 (中, 下) + folio no. Edition: The only pre-modern edition of this work. A 4-line batsu at the end of maki 下, preceding the kanki, is dated Kan'ei 18 (1641) and ends as follows: 寛永十八年極月吉日写之. Contents: A guide to the tea ceremony and how it should be performed.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired at Glendining's sale, London, 22 March 1956.

Note

A distinguished warrior, Hosokawa Tadaoki served successively under Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, and was instrumental in leading Ieyasu's forces to victory at Sekigahara in 1600. He was also a man of cultivated tastes, a waka poet, painter and adept at the tea ceremony. From 1619 he devoted the rest of his life to cultural pursuits.

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 18. Amateur arts 諸芸 a. Tea ceremony 茶道

Bibliography

Text reprinted in Chadō koten zenshū 茶道古典全集, vol. 11.