Kōetsu Sanjūrokkasen

Kōetsu sanjūrokkasen  光悦三十六歌仙

FSC-GR-780.97

Commentary by Suzuki Jun

Posted June 2, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

This book depicts the imaginary portraits of the Japanese poets collectively known as the Sanjūrokkasen (三十六歌仙), or the “Thirty-six immortal poets.” The illustrations are attributed to Tosa Mitsumochi and the calligraphy to Hon’ami Kōetsu. Text and image were printed in black, and the illustrations were hand-colored at a later date; the pages have been reordered at some point in this impression’s history.

The first printing (shozuri 初摺) of the first edition (shohan 初板) of this title belongs to a group of books known as the Sagabon  嵯峨本(Saga books) dating from the Keichō (1596–1615) and Genna (1615–1624) eras. The term Sagabon refers to a selection of Japanese titles published by the wealthy merchant Suminokura Soan 角倉素庵(1571–1632) in Saga, a village near Kyoto. Soan collaborated with Kōetsu in the production of these books, which were printed with luxurious effects, often including mica, on high-quality paper. Some of their titles included works produced using movable type, while others were woodblock printed.

These titles are known in a variety of imprints. Some later printings include an external title slip reading Kasen  歌仙(poetic immortals). Various imprints entered Western collections and institutions. By comparing the Pulverer copy to earlier imprints, the worn state of the printed lines in the images and the pictorial frame suggests that it is a later printing of a copy that was itself a re-cut ofa second printing. The Pulverer copy may thus be dated to after the Kan’ei era (1624–1644) and thus it does not fit into the time frame of Soan and Kōetsu’s collaboration in Sagabon. (It does, however, indicate continued appreciation for their projects.) The illustrations were hand-colored later. A copy in the Seikidō Bunko in the Ochanomizu University Library in Tokyo is also hand-colored in the same fashion.

The portraits in this book follow the pictorial conventions for depicting the renowned poets established in the Muromachi period (1336–1573). A sense of slight movement has been added to the images here, demonstrating that these follow in the lineage of sanjūrokkasen representationsdeveloped during the second half of the thirteenth century (in a style known as in Narikane bon). The style of  “scattered writing” (chirashigaki散らし書き) employed for the waka poems seeks to reproduce Kōetsu’s undulating calligraphic style in its rich variation of thick and thin lines, carved in reverse into the woodblock.

The poets are presented along the lines of an uta-awase poetry competition into Right (migi 右) and Left (hidari 左) teams. The first eighteen poets in the volume are on the Left team, while the latter eighteen are on the Right. Their bodies are turned such that the members of the Right team face toward those on the Left as if they are looking to the left to see their opponents; the poets on the Left team face to the right. The figures of the Left include Hitomaru 人丸(Kakinomoto no Hitomaro); Mitsune 躬恒(Ōshikōchi no Mitsune); Chūnagon Yakamochi 中納言家持(Ōtomo no Yakamochi); Narihira Ason業平朝臣(Ariwara no Narihira); the monk Sosei 素性法師; Sarumaru no Taifu 猿丸大夫; Chūnagon Kanesuke 中納言兼輔(Fujiwara no Kanesuke); Chūnagon Atsutada中納言敦忠(Fujiwara no Atsutada); Kintada Ason公忠朝臣(Minamoto no Kintada); Saigū no Nyōgo斎宮女御(Kishi/Yoshiko Joō); Toshiyuki Ason 敏行朝臣(Fujiwara no Toshiyuki); Muneyuki Ason宗于朝臣(Minamoto no Muneyuki); (Fujiwara no) Kiyotada清正; (Fujiwara no) Okikaze 興風; (Sakanoue no) Korenori 是則; Kodai no kimi 小大君; (Ōnakatomi no) Yoshinobu Ason 能宣朝臣; and (Taira no) Kanemori 兼盛. Those belonging to the Right team are Tsurayuki 貫之 (Ki no Tsurayuki); (Lady) Ise 伊勢; (Yamabe no) Akahito 赤人; Henjō Sōjō 遍昭僧正; Chūnagon Asatada 中納言朝忠(Fujiwara no Asatada); (Fujiwara no) Takamitsu 高光; (Mibu no) Tadamine忠峯; (Ōnakatomi no) Yorimoto Ason 頼基朝臣; (Minamoto no) Shigeyuki 重之; (Minamoto no) Saneakira Ason 信明朝臣; (Minamoto no) Shitagō 順; (Kiyohara no) Motosuke 元輔; (Fujiwara no) Motozane 元真; (Fujiwara no) Nakafumi 仲文; (Mibu no) Takami 忠見; Nakatsukasa 中務; (Ki no) Tomonori 友則; and Ono no Komachi 小野小町.

書名                光悦三十六歌仙

執筆者      鈴木淳

三十六歌仙絵本。伝土佐光茂画、伝本阿弥光悦書。改装。墨摺、着彩。絵、テキストとも整版。初板初摺本は、慶長・元和年間成立のいわゆる嵯峨本の内。題名は、題簽に「歌仙」とある町板の後摺り本も報告されている。本絵本の諸本は、欧米の諸所蔵機関に数多く伝来するが、本コレクション本は、図形の比較、匡郭の痛みなどから、再板本をさらに覆刻した本の後摺りで、寛永年間以降の板行と推定され、嵯峨本の範疇には入らない。着彩は、お茶の水図書館成簀堂文庫本にも見られる。歌仙の姿絵は、室町時代に成立し、軽妙な動きが加味され、もっとも親しまれた業兼本の系統に属する。和歌の散らし書きは、肥痩に富んだ柔和な光悦の筆遣いを再現しようとしたもので、その書風は長く人々に愛好された。収載される歌仙は順に、人丸、躬恒、中納言家持、業平朝臣、素性法師、猿丸大夫、中納言兼輔、中納言敦忠、公忠朝臣、斎宮女御、敏行朝臣、宗于朝臣、清正、興風、是則、小大君、能宣朝臣、兼盛、（右）貫之、伊勢、赤人、遍昭僧正、中納言朝忠、高光、忠峯、頼基朝臣、重之、信明朝臣、順、元輔、元真、仲文、忠見、中務、友則、小野小町。この順番は、歌人を左右に分ける歌合形式によるもので、前半の十八名は「左」、後半の十八名は「右」である。左右それぞれの歌人は、姿態が左向き、右向きで一定しており、前半と後半とで左右相対する。

Selected readings:

Kenneth B. Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese Books in the British Library Printed Before 1700 (London: The British Library; Tenri: Tenri Central Library, 1993).

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, 2 vols. (London: Sotheby’s Publications by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1987), see esp. vol. 1, 47–50.


Tomoko Sakomura, “Summoning the Thirty-Six Poets: A Look at a Poet-Portrait Screen,” Impressions: the Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America 32 (2011), 145–65.

Suzuki Jun鈴木淳, Kōetsu Sanjūrokkasen kō「光悦三十六歌仙考」, in  Edo no kasen-e『江戸の歌仙絵』, ed. National Institute of Japanese Literature (Tokyo: National Institute of Japanese Literature, 2009).


Kenji Toda, Descriptive Catalogue of the Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: 1931; repr., Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2004),18–19.


Wada Tsunashirō 和田維四郎, Sagabon kō 『嵯峨本考』(Tokyo: Shinbi Shoin, 1916).

Copies in other collections:

Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Harvard University, Arthur M. Sackler Museum

New York Public Library, New York City