Selections from NDL Collection

Ise Monogatari

This book is a Sagabon of Kokatsuji-ban, published in the early Edo period. "Kokatsuji-ban" is the generic name for movable-type prints published during the fifty years of the Bunroku, Keicho, Gen' na and Kan' ei periods (1592-1644), distinguished from the movable-type prints of the later periods. Sagabon are the fancy books elaborately designed by Hon' ami Koetsu (1558-1637), published in cooperation with Suminokura Soan, a wealthy merchant of Saga (now the northwest part of Kyoto prefecture). The first edition of Kokatsuji-ban of "Ise Monogatari" was published in 1608, and then additional editions with different arrangement of types followed. The book introduced here was published in 1610, based on the 1608 edition. Illustrations and imprint are not movable-type prints but woodblock prints. The book is decorated with white pigment made from oystershell, which is mixed with casein glue and brushed on the paper.

Ise Monogatari is an "uta-monogatari (poem tale)" whose original form dates back to around 900 A.D. and it developed to the preliminary form during the 10th century. As an "uta-monogatari", Ise Monogatari is a collection of relatively short stories each built around one or more poems. Most of the stories begin with the phrase "Mukashi otoko arikeri (Once upon a time, there was a man)." This man, the protagonist of the story, was thought to be modeled on Ariwara Narihira, an aristocrat and notable poet of the Heian period (794-1192). Together with over 30 poems of Narihira and many other poems including those handed down from the older generation, anecdotes of Narihira and traditional materials were woven into short stories. The stories were arranged into a kind of literary biography, beginning with the story of a man who, just after his Coming-of-Age ceremony, sent a romantic poem to a beautiful woman; a series of love stories follows and it ends with a farewell poem.