This is an abridged translation of the article of the same title
in the NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 573 (Dec. 2008).

On July 16, 2008, the 43rd committee on designation of rare books designated 12 materials as rare books and 2 materials as semi-rare books. Including the materials designated on February 18, 2009 by the 44th committee, the National Diet Library (NDL) holds 1,255 rare books and 787 semi-rare books in total as of August 1, 2009. The following introduces some newly-designated materials.

Printed around the Genna and Kan’ei eras (1615 to 1644), old movable-type edition, 1 book, 27.5ﾗ18.7cm, <NDL call no.: WA7-267>

Tsukimitsu no soushi

This is one of the "Otogizoushi," Japanese fairy tales of the Muromachi era (1392-1573). It is also known as "Tsukihi no soushi." The story is like this: Houou and Sansou, sons of a millionaire in "Magada-koku," Tenjiku (old name for India), were exiled to Shiomizu Island by their stepmother. Their dead birth mother changed herself into a large bird of paradise to protect and bring them up. Then, their father saved them, and they grew up to be the sun and the moon.

This is the oldest printed edition of "Tsukimitsu no soushi." Only the one held by the Department of Japanese Language and Literature of Tokyo University is known as the same edition. All the illustrations of this book were colored red, green and yellow by hand. The British Library possesses an old movable-type book of "Tsukihi no sousi" (former collection of Sir Ernest Satow), which is a different edition with some different sentences and no illustrations.

Printed in the Kan’ei 12 (1635), 8 books, 27.0ﾗ18.7cm, < NDL call no.: WB2-10>

Gikei ki

This illustrated "Gikei ki (biography of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a famous military commander of the 12th century)" was published in 1635, after the old movable-type edition. This book has 66 illustrations in total. It is colored red, green and yellow by hand and called "Tanroku-bon." It is thought that the designated book was printed and colored between 1635 and about 1646, because the next edition of the woodcut illustrated book of "Gikei ki" was published in 1646.

While the Kyoto University Library holds the same edition, in both the writing part and the picture part, the print is not so clear because of some wear of the printing blocks. Its coloring is also a little different from the designated book.

Printed at the end of the Kan’ei and Shouhou eras (1633 to 1648), 2 books, 24.9ﾗ17.6cm, < NDL call no.: WB2-11>

Tsukijima

This is one of the texts for "Kouwaka-mai," a Japanese classic ballad drama of the Muromachi era. It is also called "Tsukishima" or "Hyougo." In this story, Taira no Kiyomori (a general and a noble of the 12th century) was gathering human sacrifices to enable the construction of Fukuhara Port. Gyoubuzaemon Kuniharu was seized in the Ikuta Forest, and his daughter Meigetsu-nyo and her husband asked to be substitutes for her father"s life. In the end, Kiyomori buried his page, Matsuou, and 10,000 volumes of the Lotus Sutra instead of sacrifices and completed the construction.

This book was published after the old movable-type edition, and has 12 illustrations colored simply with red, green and yellow by hand. The print is clear. Although the same version is not found in Japan, the New York Public Library has the same version with similar coloring.

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