Gafu

Gafu (画譜)　[Kōkongasō gōhasshu 古今画藪後八種]
FSC-GR-780.547
Commentary by Itō Shiori
Posted April 27, 2017
Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The publication history of this untitled album (gafu) illustrating flowers and birds, landscapes, animals and human figures by Sō Shiseki is challenging. The album was originally produced as one of the eight volumes of the Kōkongasō gōhasshu (古今画藪後八種), or Gōhasshu (後八種), published in 1771 (Meiwa 8). Eight years later, in 1779 (An’ei 8),a new version of five volumes with the new title Kōkongasō gōhasshu shitaifu 古今画藪後八種四体譜 was released. This version is now referred to as the Shitaifu. Later these two independent works were bound together and sold as a single item with the title slip reading Kōkongasō kōhen 古今画藪後編 (Kōkongasō: Later edition), while the Shitaifu is listed simply under the name Kōkongasō. 

To make this more complicated, the publisher’s catalogue (zōhan mokuroku) by Suharaya Mohē 須原屋茂兵衛 (Senshōbō 千鐘房) lists the two original works separately: the Gōhasshu is listed as “eight illustrated books” (hachi no gasō 八之画数; the 数character appears to be a misprint for 藪)and the Shitaifu as “five illustrated books” (go no gasō 五之画数).  Suharaya Mohē’s publisher’s catalogue, included at the end Tani Bunchō’s Nihon meizan zufu (see Meizan zue, FSC-GRC-780.601.1-3) and others, is described as “the same, later edition” (同後編) next to the title Sō Shiseki gasō (宋紫石画藪). Here, the latter refers to the five volumes of the Shitaifu. This situation is further complicated since modern references such as the Zōsho mokuroku (蔵書目録) and the Nihon koten seki sōgō mokuroku (日本古典籍総合目録) of the National Institute of Japanese Literature, Tokyo, do not clearly distinguish between the two original texts. [1]

The Pulverer copy is likely one of the earlier printings from this history. There are no title slips on the early printings of this album but the contents correspond with what is designated “part 2” (maki) in later printings. However, there are differences between early and later printings of this volume. This is visible in colors used for printing. For example, on the sixth illustrated opening (pp. 14–15 on the website) the light inks and indigo blue for the bird confirms that the Pulverer copy is an earlier printing. The eighth illustrated opening (pp. 18–19 on the website) depicts an ox in a field under peach blossoms with a mountain in the far distance to the right; this corresponds with the printing housed at Harvard Yenching Library (Y40–742). These and the other illustrations in this album exemplify Sō Shiseki’s adoption of the finely detailed style of the Chinese painter Shen Nanpin 沈南蘋 (J. Shin Nanpin; 1682–­after 1760). 
 

書名　        画譜
執筆者       伊藤紫織

『古今画藪後八種』８巻８冊（後八種）の内の１冊である。後八種と『古今画藪後八種四体譜』五巻五冊（四体譜）とは、後八種が明和8年（1771）刊、四体譜が安永8年（1779）刊で別の本である。しかし後に一括して売りに出されるようになったらしく、しかもその際の題箋が後八種を「古今画藪後編」と記し、四体譜を「古今画藪」と記すため、蔵書目録などからは様子がわからず、日本古典籍総合目録でも区別しきれていない。蔵書目録からはっきり後八種とわかるもの、及び実際に確認したものを諸本の所蔵機関名としてあげた。須原屋茂兵衛の蔵版目録には『八之画数』（数は藪のあやまりと思われる）として『古今画藪後八種四体譜』を指す『五之画数』とともに載る。また谷文晁『日本名山図譜』等須原屋茂兵衛版の巻末の蔵版目録には、四体譜を指す『宋紫石画藪』五冊とともに『同後編』と載る。

初印に近いものには題箋がないが、本書は後印本の題箋では巻２となっているものにあたる。中野氏が指摘した後印本との相違点、14～15ページの代赭、薄墨、藍の鳥が確認できる。18～19ページ「桃花野牛図」に右の遠山があるのもハーバード大学燕京図書館所蔵本（Ｙ40－742）と一致し、本書は早い時期のものと考えられる。

Selected readings:
C. H. Mitchell, with the assistance of Osamu Ueda, The Illustrated Books of the Nanga, Maruyama, Shijo and Other Related Schools of Japan. A Biobibliography (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1972), 372–74.
Nakano Mitsutoshi中野三敏,  “Gahon kenkyū nōto” 「画本研究ノート」,  Denki 8 『伝記』(1986), 1–15.

Itō Shiori伊藤紫織, “Edo jidai chūki gadan ni okeru Shin Nanpin gafū no denpa to juyō ni tsuite: hanbon to daimyo o chūshin ni” 「江戸時代中期画壇における沈南蘋画風の伝播と受容について―版本と大名を中心に―」, Kagoshima bijutsu kenkyū nenpō 22 『鹿島美術研究年報』(supplement), 59–62.

Copies in other collections:
(Note from the author: the collections included below house examples that are designated Gōhasshu in the Zōsho mokuroku or are printings that the author has sighted.)
Art Institute of Chicago
British Museum, London
Chiba City Museum of Art
National Diet Library, Tokyo
New York Public Library
Harvard Yenching Library
National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden)
Kyushu University
Waseda University Library, Tokyo

[1]  Nakano 1986, 11–12.