Soga monogatari 曾我物語

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or.64.b.30
  • Dates of Creation
    • [1620-1630]
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 10 volumes Condition: Fair to good. No worm damage, but some brown staining, and lower corners soiled through frequent handling. Impression: Type shows distinct signs of wear. Illustrations: Every maki copiously illustrated with single-page sumizuri woodcuts of good quality, 11 to 19 in each maki. The large size and roundness of the faces of people portrayed may indicate an intention by the publisher or illustrator to add hand-colouring as a tanroku-bon. Seals of ownership: The name Kubota Uemon 久保田宇右エ門 is stamped on the last page of each maki except no. 12. The same name appears in the kashihon'ya stamp on first page of each maki. This is, therefore, not strictly a seal of ownership.

Scope and Content

Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Genna / Kan'ei period, c. 1620-30] . No colophon. Description: 10 kan (of 12), 10 satsu. Incomplete set, lacking maki 1 and 9. Folios unnumbered. 28.2 x 20.2 cm. Fukurotoji. Movable type, with blockprinted illustrations. Printing frame 22.3 x 17.4 cm. No borders. No printed hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text without furigana. 12 lines to page, 20 characters to line. Original dark-blue covers, embossed with a rhomboid dragon-crest design. Original printed title slips, now badly rubbed, with parts missing. Gedai: Soga monogatari 曽か物語 (in gyōsho) + maki no. In a modern floral brocade chitsu case. Edition: Fourth blockprinted edition of Soga monogatari, and the first to be illustrated. Contents: A medieval prose narrative on the theme of revenge, based on the revenge exacted by the Soga brothers on Kudō Suketsune for the murder of their father.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Kōbunsō, 15 March 1974.

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 d. Gunki monogatari 軍記物語

Bibliography

Kokatsujiban no kenkyū 古活字版の研究, pp. 546-8, 901, pl. 441, 952; Kōbunsō kohanpon mokuroku 弘文荘古版本目録, p. 234; Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 4, pp. 39-41.