MS Japanese 2

A Japanese kabusebori (woodcut print) edition of Shisijing fahui, a study of the theory and practice of acupuncture focusing on the fourteen bodily tracts, with illustrations. This copy was printed from the blocks used for the edition of 1762, but the name of the original publisher has been excised from the blocks and a new colophon added, which indicates that it was printed by Kawachiya Kihei (河内屋喜兵衛) of Osaka. According to Kuroda, the external title of this edition, which is issuing from both this copy and the British Library copy, was Shinkan Jūshikei. At the end of the book is a catalogue titled 摂陽書林柳原積玉圃医書版目録 大坂河内屋喜兵衛. The work was first written in 1341 by Hua Shou (1304–1386), a physician of the Yuan dynasty and printed in 1364. It was first printed in Japan in 1596 and was one of the first books to be printed with movable type. Later movable-type editions are recorded from 1604, 1618 and 1625; block-printed editions are recorded from 1631, 1649 and 1665, and on numerous other occasions up to 1805. It is clear, then, that there was a very considerable market for this work in Japan in the Edo period.

Japan, 1762

Material: paper; １冊 3巻 | 1 volume (3 sections); binding dimensions: height 258mm, width 180mm, depth 14mm