SUZUKI, Ichimei (or O), compiler.

Jofukyusai betsugoroku [Satake’s Grand List of Pseudonyms].

48 parts & one index in 20 vols. 8vo, orig. yellow wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. [Kubota]: Meitokukan Academy, 1827.

Second edition (1st ed.: 1825) and rare; this was printed in the Kubota domain in northwestern Japan. Following the death of his father in 1785, Yoshimasa Satake (1775-1815), became daimyo of the Kubota domain in Dewa Province (modern-day Akita Prefecture). He instituted a number of reforms, ordering the planting of extensive windbreaks to improve crop yields; encouraged the mining, silk, and lacquerware industries; instituted land reforms; dismissed incompetent and corrupt officials; and hired forestry management experts. He also established the domain academy, the Meitokukan [“House of Virtues”], which developed an active publishing division.

The present work is a rare example of an early publication from the school, which specialized in Chinese learning and Confucian traditions. The Preface was written, under the pseudonym “Rakuo,” by Sadanobu Matsudaira (1758-1829), who instituted the “Kansei Reforms” of 1789-1801, which included a number of educational changes, improving the quality of learning through Japan.

The compiler of this work, Ichimei Suzuki (d. 1818), was a teacher at the Meitokukan and was encouraged by Satake (referred to here by his pen name “Jofukyusai”) to prepare this work. It is a list of pseudonyms of authors and other people of the Three Kingdoms era (220-80 AD) in China, with biographical sketches of each person. For each name, Suzuki and his fellow compilers have given citations of the Chinese books in which they were able to determine the actual names.

Fine and fresh set, preserved in two old chitsu. With the “Kanda ke zo” seal of the Kyoto collector Kogan Kanda (d. 1918), who formed a large and fine library, which was inherited by his grandson Kiichiro Kanda.

Price: $8,500.00

Item ID: 8353