Karin kinyōshō 歌林金葉抄

FSC-GR-780.795.1-3

Commentary by Tashiro Kazuha

Posted July 13, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

This three-volume work is a retitled printing with illustrations of the Karin ryōzai shū 歌林良材集 by the Muromachi-period poet Ichijō Kaneyoshi 一条兼良(1402–1481). The title, which could be translated as A Collection of Fine Quality Wood from Waka Trees, compares waka poetry to timber.   The Karin ryōzai shū was widely distributed as a compositional guide for poets; many manuscript copies exist and the text had already been published without illustrations in 1643 (Kan’ei 20). Illustrated anthologies of waka were popular from the beginning of the early modern period. [1]

The illustrations in Karin kinyōshō (Golden leaves from waka trees) are attributed to Yoshida Hanbē, who was active in the Kansai region (Kyoto/Osaka) from the Kanbun (1661–1673) to Genroku (1688–1704) eras, and as an artist he has often been praised alongside Hishikawa Moronobu in Edo. Relatively little is known about Hanbē since only some ten titles with his signature exist. Hanbē’s illustrated books of poetry include the designs for the Hyakunin isshu shō 百人一首抄(Notes on the “One hundred poets, one poem each”) of 1693 (Genroku 6). [2]

Each of the three volumes have two full-folio (double-page opening) and six half-folio illustrations for a total of thirty illustrations in the three volumes. This book exhibits the close link between text (the poems) and image. The first volume visualizes the verse included by celebrated poets, while the second and third volumes cite and illustrate tales and legends about waka. For example, the last composition in volume 1 (p. 68 on the website) has a figure looking longingly at a falling cascade to illustrate the accompanying poem by Emperor Sutoku 崇徳院(1119–1164) that compares the water of the falls to love. The third double-page opening in volume 2 (pp. 34–35 on the website) portrays a scene from the legend of Urashimako (浦島子), in which the fisherman Urashima Tarō (浦島太郎) rescues a turtle and is rewarded with a visit to the palace of the Dragon God. The right half-folio shows the protagonist’s encounter with the god’s daughter, the Princess Oto (Otohime), while the left half-folio depicts the scene in which Urashima Tarō becomes an old man after opening a mysterious box (tamatebako). The text on the last two half-folios in volume 3 (pp. 67–68 on the website) reproduces the calligraphy from the colophon of the Karin ryōzaishū, its inclusion demonstrating the value given to the original text (and its lineage).

書名　　　        歌林金葉抄
執筆者                        田代一葉

室町時代の歌人・一条兼良（1402～1481）による歌学書『歌林良材集』に挿絵を加えた改題本。『歌林良材集』は、作歌の手引き書として広く流布し写本も多いが、本文自体は本書に先駆けて寛永20年（1643）には刊行されていた。また、和歌の書に絵を入れて刊行することは、近世初期から盛んに行われた。［1］
本書の絵は、吉田半兵衛によると推定されている。彼は寛文から元禄期（1660～1704）頃に上方で活躍した、江戸の菱川師宣と並び称される絵師であるが、署名のある本は10タイトルほどと、未だ不明な部分が多い人物。歌書では『百人一首抄』（元禄６年刊）の絵を手がけている［2］。
絵と本文との関係を見てみると、第1巻では本書に引用されている有名な歌人が詠んだ歌の世界が、第2・3巻では和歌説話や伝説が、絵画化され、挿絵として入れられている。絵の数は、見開き2ページに2図、各巻10図で合計して30図。たとえば、上巻68ページは、崇徳院が詠んだ、滝の水を恋のたとえに用いた歌を、滝を見つめ物思いにふける人物を描くことで説明的に描いている。2巻34,35ページは、浦島子の伝説で、右のページには海神の乙女との出会いが、左側のページでは玉手箱をあけ老人になった姿が描かれている。
なお、83ページから84ページ半ばまでの文章は、『歌林良材集』本文の書写奥書の写しで、本文の素性の良さを証明するためにつけられている。

Selected readings:
Asano Shūgō 浅野秀剛, “Jūnanaseiki no eiri hanpon no eshi ni tsuite”「十七世紀の絵入版本の絵師について」, Biburia 136 『ビブリア』(October 2011), 3–32.

Kansaku Kenichi 神作研一, “Edo no ōchō-bi: kasen eiri kanpon no tenkai”「江戸の王朝美―歌仙絵入刊本の展開―」, in Kinsei waka-shi no kenkyū『近世和歌史の研究』(Tokyo: Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan, 2013).

Kyūsojin Hitaku 久曾神昇, ed., Karin ryōzaishū kaidai「歌林良材集」解題, in Nihon kagaku taikei『日本歌学大系』(Tokyo: Kazama Shobō, 1986), supplemental vol. 7, 30–35.

Copies in other collections:|
Genroku 8 (1695) edition:
Osaka City University
Ryukoku University, Kyoto
Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo
Toyohashi City Central Library
University of Tokyo Library

Hōei 1 (1704) edition:
British Museum, London
Kyoto University
Osaka Prefectural Nakanoshima Library
Waseda University, Tokyo

[1] For more on the illustrated versions of the thirty-six immortal poets from the early modern period, see Kansaku 2013.
[2] For further information on Yoshida Hanbē, see Asano 2011.