Chikusai 竹齋

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 16107.g.19
  • Dates of Creation
    • [1624-1644]
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 2 volumes Condition: Poor to fair. Many soiled and stained folios, with fairly extensive worm damage, especially in maki 下. Impression: Atozuri, from heavily worn blocks. Illustrations: Contains a total of 26 single-page sumizuri illustrations in a primitive style, 13 in maki 上 and 13 in maki 下. The woodcuts are notable chiefly for the unusually small scale of the human figures portrayed. Illustrations appear on ff. 2a, 3b, 4b, 6b, 10a, 15b, 20a, 20b, 31b, 35b, 38a and 40a of maki 上, and on ff. 4b, 7b, 9a, 10b, 12a, 14b, 17a, 19a, 22b, 25b, 30b, 34b and 37b of maki 下. Seals of ownership: Oblong red seal of Konakamura Kiyonori 小中村清矩 on first page of maki 上.

Scope and Content

Variant title: Chikusai monogatari 竹齋物語 [竹斎物語]. Author/compiler: Formerly attributed to Karasumaru Mitsuhiro 烏丸光廣, now believed to have been written by Tomiyama 富山 (or Isoda 磯田) Dōya 道冶. Imprint: N.p., n.d. [Kan'ei period, 1624-44] . No colophon. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, in a box. (Maki 上) ff. 42; (maki 下) ff. 39. 25 x 17.7 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 22 x 16.7 cm. No borders, except round illustrations. No fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text, without furigana but with printed dakuten and kutōten. 11 lines to page, 24-26 characters to line. Renewed dark blue covers, with renewed handwritten title slip on maki 上 only. Manuscript gedai: 竹斎物語 烏丸光廣作 ／ 元和中刊本 [sic] . No naidai. Title from hashiragaki, which reads: 竹斎上 (下) + folio no. Edition: Undated blockprinted edition generally assigned to Kan'ei period (1624-44). The earliest edition, without illustrations or date, was printed from movable type also c. Kan'ei period. The present blockprint was followed by a new seihan edition in 3 kan, 3 satsu, in Tenna 3 (1683), with illustrations by Hishikawa Moronobu. Contents: A kana-zōshi story describing the journeys in the provinces of a monk Chikusai and the incidents which befell him on the way to Edo, including practising as an unqualified doctor in Nagoya.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired from Richard Lane, 19 Nov. 1956.

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. 4, p. 224; Kana-zōshi 仮名草子 vol. 1, p. 19; Kinsei bungei meicho hyōhonshū 近世文芸名著標本集, 9 shū; Edo bungaku zuroku 江戸文学図録 , p. 3, p1. 7-8.