Yamaoka Genrin Annot (1 results)
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Seller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller Inc., New York, NY, U.S.A.Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller Inc.
Contact seller5-star sellerFive full-page woodcut illus. .5, 27 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. semi-stiff wrappers (a little soiled) with an old title-slip, old stitching. [Japan]: Hasegawa Ichirobei ???????, 1658. A rare illustrated edition of Kamo no Ch?mei's early 13th-century masterpiece, replete with a running commentary in the upper margin. Ch?mei (ca.…1155-1216) "was born into a family of Shinto priests. His father was the superintendent (egi) of Kamo Shrine, the great shrine that still stands today where Kyoto's two rivers meet. It's important imperial connections gave the shrine immense prestige, and Ch?mei, as a child of only seven, had the proud experience of being given court rank" (p. xii). Yet Ch?mei's father died before his time, and the family lost its elevated position. Ch?mei as a young man probably supported himself by means of his poetical and musical talents. When a promise of a similar, high-ranking Shinto post fell through, Ch?mei decided to become a Buddhist monk. He at first lived for five years in a Buddhist community but then moved out to become a recluse, living in a hut of ten square feet. This is the hut of the title of his literary account, which uses the impermanence of human dwellings as a metaphor for the human body, which, like the houses in which it lodges, will not last. Ch?mei illustrates the omnipresence of death and destruction by describing a series of disasters that befell the Kyoto region during his lifetime, from fires to famines to earthquakes. The illustrations in our book will appear familiar to readers of Ch?mei's narrative. We see a fire engulfing buildings ("at the Hour of the Dog a fire broke out in the capital's south-east.," p. 6), powerful winds blowing them apart ("in the fourth month of the fourth year of Jisho a great whirlwind sprang up in the Nakamikado Kyogoku area.," p. 6), and people, horses, and houses tumbled over in an earthquake ("Mountainsides collapsed, damming the streams, and the sea tilted up and flooded over the land," p. 10). Ch?mei's hut is shown as well, complete with his few books and musical instruments. Yamaoka Genrin's (1631-72) commentary to the text frequently quotes ancient Chinese philosophy, such as Mencius, Zhuangzi, the Analects, and Liezi. Fine copy, some thumbing and browning. ? Quotes from Yoshida Kenk? & Kamo no Ch?mei, trans. M. McKinney, Essays in Idleness and H?j?ki (Penguin, 2013).
