Gvia do pecador ぎやどぺかどる

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

  • Reference
    • GB 59 G.11929*
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1599
  • Language of Material
    • Japanese
  • Physical Description
    • 2 volumes Condition: Very good, apart from some brown staining in maki 下, ff. 51 to end. Impression: Sharp and clear, from unworn type. Illustrations: Printer's ornaments surround the printed text on all three title pages. That on fol. 1a of maki 上 also contains the Jesuit sunburst in the centre, and the letters IHS. Seals of ownership: None.

Scope and Content

Alternative reading of title: Giya do pekadoru. Author/compiler: Luis, de Granada. Imprint: [Nagasaki] , 1599. Title page in Latin on fol. 1 recto of maki 上 reads: GVIA DO PE / CADOR / IN COLLEGIO IAPONI / CO SOCIETATIS / IESV. / Cum facultate Ordinarij + Superiorum. / ANNO M. D. XCIX. Title page in Japanese on fol. 1 verso reads: (in centre) Kiya to hekatoru: zainin o zen ni michibiku no gi nari きやとへかとる ／ 罪人を善に ／ 導くの儀也; (on right) Go-shusse irai sen gohyaku kujūku nen 御出世以來千五百九十九年; (on left) Keichō yonen shōgatsu gejun rōshi nari 慶長四年正月下旬鏤梓也. Title page in Latin and Japanese on fol. 1 recto of maki 下 reads: GVIA DO PECADOR. / IN COLLEGIO IAPONICO / SOCIETATIS IESV. / Cum facultate Ordinarij, & Superiorum. / ANNO 1599. Between the title and imprint on this title page is printed the same Japanese title and right-hand line as on fol. 1 verso of maki 上, with the following line on left: 慶長四年潤 (ママ) 三月中旬鏤梓也. Description: 2 kan, formerly in 2 satsu, rebound in 2 vols. western style. (Maki 上) ff. [1] (title page), [2] (contents of maki 上), 1-3 (two prefaces), 4-107 (main text 本文), 11 (glossary of kanji, with readings in furigana). (Maki 下) ff. 1 (title page on recto, preface on verso), [2] (contents of maki 下), 2-78 (main text 本文), 10 (glossary of kanji, lacking verso of fol. 10). 26.5 x 19 cm. (maki 上); 26.1 × 19.2 cm. (maki 下). Formerly bound fukurotoji. Movable type. Printing frame 22.7 x 16.5 cm. (average). Single-line borders. Fishtail design on hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with dakuten but no furigana (except in glossaries), interspersed with short biblical quotations in romanised Latin and with 4 newly devised symbols for the names of God, Christ, Jesus and Jesus Christ (see Satow's The Jesuit mission press in Japan, 1591-1610, p. 43). 17 lines to page, 29-33 characters to line. Original covers not preserved, hence no title slips or gedai. Naidai at head of mokuroku and main text of both maki: Kiya to hekatoru きやとへかとる. Hashiragaki: [no title] , jōkan 上巻 (gekan 下巻) + folio no. In an 18th or 19th century western leather binding, stamped with the arms of Sir Thomas Grenville and his name in the form: Rt. Honble Thos. Grenville. Edition: Printed by the Jesuit mission press at Nagasaki in 1599. The earliest edition of this work in Japanese. A reprint is believed to have been published by the Jesuits in 1602 or 1606. Contents: An abridged Japanese version of Luis de Granada's Guia de Pecadores, probably derived from the Portuguese translation published at Salamanca in 1573.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Acquired by the British Museum from the library of Sir Thomas Grenville in 1847.

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 2. Religion (excluding buddhism) 宗教 (仏教以外) b. Christianity キリスト教

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 164; Kirishitan bunko, pp. 34-6; The Jesuit mission press in Japan, 1591-1610, pp. 43-4; Kirishitan-ban no kenkyū きりしたん版の研究, pp. 145-6. See also bibliography in Kirishitan-ban no kenkyū, p. 215.