Ehon ranjatai 絵本蘭奢待

FSC-GR-780.637.1-5

Commentary by Yamamoto Yukari　

Posted December 11, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Ehon ranjatai is a collection of illustrated stories connected to the miraculous efficacy and benefits of waka poetry. For example, Taira no Saneshige (see vol. 3), composed a waka poem when praying to the deity of the Kifune Shrine in Kyoto for assistance in acquiring a position, and he was eventually successful in his endeavor.

The texts in this five-volume work deal with the following figures: [1]

Volume 1: Saishō Masatsune (宰相雅経), Izumi Shikibu (和泉式部), Ōe no Hime (大江の姫), Tamesuke-kyō (為相卿), Teika-kyō (定家卿), Shunkō Hōgen (俊光法眼), Fujiwara no Ietaka-kyō (藤原家隆卿), Izumi no Taishō/Mibu no Tadamine (泉の大将・壬生忠岑), and Meshii no ko no oya (目しいの子の親).

Volume 2: Urabe Kanenao (卜部兼直), Hachiman no Miko (八幡の神子), Matsudono Sōjō Gyōi (松殿僧正行意), Kodaijin (小大進), Tomoie Ason (知家朝臣), Yuya Musume Jiju (湯谷娘侍従), Kamo no Yukihira (加茂幸平), Gotobain/Kii no kami Norimitsu (後鳥羽院・紀伊守範光), Tanba no kami Ienaga (但馬守家長), Kataoka no Hafuri (片岡のはふり), Tachibana Nagamasa (橘長政), Saishō (宰相), Saigyō Hōshi (西行法師), and Yorimasa-kyō (頼政卿).

Volume 3: Shunzei-kyō (俊成卿), Ietaka-kyō/Takasuke (家隆卿・隆祐), Sakyō-dayū Asasuke (左京太夫朝輔), Ōe no Masafusa-kyō (大江の匡房卿), the one who became the first Shūri-dayū (Shishūri dayū narikeru hito)/Yamabe no Akahito (始修理太夫なりける人・山辺赤人), man/woman (aru otoko/onna ある男・女), a country person/woman (aru inakabito/onna ある田舎人・女), Sōgi Hōshi (宗祇法師), Koshikibu no Naishi (小式部内侍), and Taira no Saneshige (平実重).

Volume 4: Kamo no Chōmei (鴨長明), Kodaijin/Hachiman no Bettō Mitsukiyo (小大進・八幡の別当光清), one retired from courtly service (shimo下野), mother and daughter (haha to musume 母と娘), lady-in-waiting (nyōbō 女房), Fujiwara no Takamitsu (藤原高光), Emon no Suke (右衛門佐), Tokudaiji Tsuke (徳大寺殿), a person (aru hito ある人), Ōnaka Tomi no Tamesada (大中臣為定), and Uji no Nyūdō Dono (宇治の入道殿).　

Volume 5: Matsuyoi no Jijū (待宵侍従), Sei Shōnagon (清少納言), Kakusan Hōshi (覚讃法師), mother of Ōtōnomiya Hyōbu-kyō Shinnō/Sanmi Dono no Tsubone (大塔宮兵部卿親王の母・三位殿の局), Koshikibu no Naishi/Izumi shikibu (小式部内侍・和泉式部), Daini Shigeie/Daishinbō (大貳重家・大進坊), a lady-in-waiting/Akazome no Emon (aru nyōbō ある女房・赤染衛門), and Taira no Michimori (平通盛).

The name Suigashi 酔雅子 is recorded in the preface, which is printed in color with a decorative border, and refers to Torigai Suiga (鳥飼酔雅), the same person as the publisher of this book, Kichimonjiya Ichibē. Many of Kichimonjiya Ichibē’s publications appropriate the colophon from other works, and this book has also taken the publication year and zodiac date designation from Ehon fukamigusa. The name of artist on the 1763 (Hōreki 13) application requesting publication is Tsukioka Settei and Suiga’s introduction notes that the work “depicts the pictures of Tsukioka Kindō [Settei].” This makes clear that the illustrations are by Settei.

書名　絵本蘭奢待
執筆者山本ゆかり

和歌をめぐる霊験や徳などにまつわる故事を集めた絵本。全五巻で構成され、以下の人物をめぐる故事が取り上げられている。
第一冊＝宰相雅経、和泉式部、大江の姫、為相卿、定家卿、俊光法眼、藤原家隆卿、泉の大将・壬生忠岑、目しいの子の親
第二冊＝卜部兼直、八幡の神子、松殿僧正行意、小大進、知家朝臣、湯谷娘侍従、加茂幸平、後鳥羽院・紀伊守範光、但馬守家長、片岡のはふり、橘長政、宰相、西行法師、頼政卿　
第三冊＝俊成卿、家隆卿・隆祐、左京太夫朝輔、大江の匡房卿、始修理太夫なりける人、山辺赤人、ある男・女、ある田舎人・女、宗祇法師、小式部内侍、平実重
第四冊＝鴨長明、小大進・八幡の別当光清、下野、母と娘、女房、藤原高光、右衛門佐、徳大寺殿、ある人、ある人、大中臣為定、宇治の入道殿　
第五冊＝待宵侍従、清少納言、覚讃法師、大塔宮兵部卿親王の母・三位殿の局、小式部内侍・和泉式部、大貳重家、大進坊、ある女房、赤染衛門、平通盛
序には色摺りの用紙に「酔雅子」の名で題が寄せられる。「酔雅子」とは鳥飼酔雅のことで、本書の版元である吉文字屋市兵衛と同一人物である。吉文字屋市兵衛の版本は別本の奥付の流用が多いが、本書も『絵本深見草』の奥付を刊行年と干支だけ直して流用している。宝暦十三年（1763）に出願された開版願に絵師が月岡丹下（雪鼎）であること、また酔雅の序にも「月岡錦童（雪鼎）の絵に写して」と記されるので、雪鼎の絵によることは確実である。

Selected readings:
Yamamoto Yukari 山本ゆかり, Kamigata fūzokuga no kenkyū『上方風俗画の研究』(Tokyo: Geika Shoin, 2010), 110–11, 237–42.

Copies in other collections:
Bibliothèques des langues orientales de Paris
Honokuni Bunko, Aichi Prefecture
Kansai University Library, Osaka
National Diet Library, Tokyo
Shinshiro Library Furusato Information Center, Aichi Prefecture
University of California, Berkeley
Tōhoku University Library, Sendai
Ueda City Library, Nagano Prefecture

[1] There are actually five, not six, volumes as indicated in the book's Description and Contents sections.