Author/compiler: Asai Ryōi 淺井了意, d. 1691. Imprint: [Kyōto] , Nakamura Gohē, Manji 4, 1661. Kanki on fol. 31b of maki 下 reads: 萬治四年丑三月吉日 ／ 寺町二条下ル町 ／ 中村五兵衛 開板. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, in a chitsu case. (Maki 上) ff. 1-9, 10 / 15, 16-25; (maki 下) ff. 1-9, 10 / 15, 16-31. 25.2 x 18.1 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 20.5 x 16.4 cm. No borders except round illustrations, which are in a double frame. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, with printed furigana, dakuten and kutōten. 11 lines to page, c. 20 characters to line. Original mid-blue covers, with fragments of original printed title slips on left. Vestige of gedai on maki 下 reads: あぶみ下. Title from naidai at head of each maki. Hashiragaki: むさしあふみ 上 (下) + folio no. Edition: Kyūhan reprint by Nakamura Gohē from the blocks of the first edition published by Kawano (Kōno ?) Dōsei (Michikiyo ?) 河野道清 in Manji 4 (1661). The present copy is therefore likely to have been printed later than 1661, in Kanbun period. Other editions followed in Enpō 4 (1676) and Meiwa 9 (1772). Contents: A documentary novel, classed as a kana-zōshi, giving a detailed and historically accurate account of the great fire of Edo in Meireki 3 (1657), as told by a fictional monk named Rakusai.
Musashi abumi むさしあぶみ
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 16107.h.20
- Dates of Creation
- 1661
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 2 volumes Condition: Good. Some folios soiled at lower corners. Book re-backed by urauchi throughout and cropped at upper and lower edges. Impression: Atozuri, from moderately worn blocks. Illustrations: A total of 12 single-page and 3 double-page sumizuri illustrations; 6 single and 2 double in maki 上, 6 single and 1 double in maki 下. They depict in graphic style the panic and confusion caused by the great fire of 1657. Seals of ownership: Three square red seals on first page of maki 上 and 下: (1) Kawaguchi shozō 川口所藏; (2) Tanpaku meishi 淡泊明志, printed inkoku; (3) another seal, unidentified. Manuscript notes: Signature (of owner of the book ?) dated Bunsei 5 (1822) on inner back cover of maki 下.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired from Kōbunsō in 1970.
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. 5, p. 664; Descriptive catalogue of Japanese and Chinese illustrated books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago , p. 49; text reproduced in Onchi sōsho 温知叢書, vol. 11.