Nihon kijinden 日本奇人伝
FSC-GR-780.721.1-2
Commentary by Iwakiri Yuriko

Posted April 19, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The Nihon kijinden (Extraordinary persons of Japan) has a complicated production history. In order to issue a new title, the publisher Yamazakiya Seishichi (Sanseidō山静堂) adapted Kijin shōzō gazōshū 畸人肖像画像集 (Collection of portraits of extraordinary persons; pub. date unknown) by removing all the kyōka poems. The Kijin shōzō gazōshū was itself an adaptation of a previous title, Kokin kijinden gazōshū 古今畸人伝画像集 (Collection of portraits of extraordinary persons; 1832, Tenpō 3), altered by replacing the poetry. The publisher Yamazakiya Seishichi then removed the last four folio sheets, and added a preface and further text by Hanagasa Bunkyō. This new title was the Nihon kijinden. This text must have been popular because it was later re-issued by Gyokuyōdō (玉養堂) under the new title Dai Nihon kijin gazō: fūzoku kōmyō ryakuden 大日本畸人画像風俗高名略伝(Portraits of extraordinary persons of great Japan: abbreviated stories of the manners and customs of famous people).

The subjects in Nihon kijinden are a compilation of celebrated personalities and tales from the past and present as well as theatrical characters. The resulting work is a great mixing of various figures and eras. Exceptions include the fictional characters from the yomihon, Nansō Satomi hakkenden 南総里見八犬伝 (Chronicles of the eight dog heroes of the Satomi clan; 1814–1842) and Ehon Sarashina sōshi 絵本更科草紙 (The story of Sarashina: a picture book; 1811) (pp. 12–13 on the website). The latter portrays the five vassals of the tale’s protagonist Yamanaka Shikanosuke (山中鹿之助) across the double-page opening (pp. 14–15 on the website). The recto of the newly added folio shows the writer Kyokutei (Takizawa) Bakin (曲亭[滝沢]馬琴), Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎), and Empress Kōmyō (光明皇后). The verso depicts the book’s artist, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳), from behind, together with the figures of Keisai Eisen (溪斎英泉) and Utagawa Toyokuni (歌川豊国). The style in this illustration differs from others in the book: the recto composition exhibits a more delicate treatment of the line while that in the verso is more uniform. (These images correspond to the last two double-page openings in volume 2.) The explanatory text accompanying Eisen’s image notes that he had passed away (Eisen died in the seventh month of 1848, Ka’ei 1). For that reason it is believed that this book was published sometime in the spring of 1849 (Ka’ei 2).

書名日本奇人伝

執筆者岩切友里子

版元の山静堂が、天保３年（1832）刊の狂歌絵本『古今畸人伝画像集』の狂歌を全部入れ替えた『畸人肖像画像集』から狂歌を全て削除して、巻末４丁を除き、新しく作成した１丁を加え、花笠文京の序文とテキスト文を入れて出版したもの。後、さらに『大日本畸人画像　風俗高名略伝』と改題して玉養堂から出版される。

画面は、古今の著名な人物や物語、戯曲の登場人物が一同に会したような図取りで、組み合わされている各人物の時代もまちまちであるが、例外として、下巻には読本『南総里見八犬伝』の登場人物が見開き２図に、読本『絵本更科草紙』（1811刊）から、主人公の山中鹿之助の家来となる5人が見開き1図にまとめられている。新しく差し替えられた１丁には、表に馬琴、北斎、光明皇后、裏には溪斎英泉、歌川豊国と共に、国芳が自らの後ろ姿を描いているが、これより前の丁の画とは筆致が異なっている。溪斎英泉の像の説明文に、英泉が既に没していることが述べられている（溪斎英泉は嘉永元年７月に没）ことから、本書は、嘉永2年（1849）春頃に出版されたたものと考えられている。

Selected readings:

Patti Kameya, “Paupers, Poets, and Paragons: Eccentricity as Virtue in Kinsei kijinden (Eccentrics of Our Times, 1790),” Ph.D diss., University of Chicago, 2006.

Suzuki Jūzō 鈴木重三, “Toyokuni ga Nihon kijinden no sujō 『国芳画「日本奇人伝」の素性』, Shoshigaku geppō『書誌学月報』31 (1987), 1–16.

Nihon kijin den