vol.22 (2026)
TAKIYAMA Arashi Department of Japanese Literature, School of Cultural and Social Studies, Key words: The Tale of Genji. kohitsu-gire fragments, manuscript, appraisers of old handwriting, Ichijō Norifusa, Ichijō Kanera, old commentary This study examines kohitsu-gire fragments of The Tale of Genji attributed to Ichijō Norifusa (1423–1480), a mid-Muromachi court noble. Until recently, only five chapters (“Aoi,” “Tokonatsu,” “Nowaki,” “Wakana jō,” and “Kashiwagi”) were known. More recently, a fragment of the “Sawarabi” chapter, preserved in the Tsurumi University Library, was identified as a precise copy of the Teika manuscript (privately owned, designated an Important Cultural Property). In this paper, the author further incorporates two newly identified and previously unreported fragments of the “Hanachirusato” chapter. Altogether, this study deals with seven chapters and fifty-nine fragments, gathering and systematizing bibliographical data and focusing on those fragments that retain annotations. The classification of these fragments by calligraphic features has long been a matter of scholarly debate. In order to reconsider the issue, this study applies a threefold method: (1) the format of waka within the text, (2) the orthographic features of recurring characters and phrases, and (3) the presence and format of interlinear annotations. On this basis, the “Tokonatsu,” “Nowaki,” and “Wakana jō” fragments can be attributed to the same handwriting and regarded as part of the same manuscript group. A distinctive feature of these three chapters is the presence of annotations inserted between the lines of the main text. Conventionally, these annotations have been ascribed to Norifusa’s father, Ichijō Kanera (1402–1481), and the handwriting has largely been regarded as his own. Kanera is known as the author of Kachō yosei (1472), one of the most important Muromachi-period exegetical texts on Genji. Previous scholarship has emphasized that the annotations draw extensively on Yotsutsuji Yoshinari (1326–1402)’s Kakaishō (ca.1362–1367), while exhibiting little direct relation to Kachō yosei, and thus has considered them to presuppose its use. A re-examination of the “Wakana jō” fragment, however, reveals citations not only from Kachō yosei but also from Shimeishō (ca.1293) by Sojaku (Unknown), in addition to Kakaishō. In other words, the annotations selectively cite across multiple commentaries, rather than simply compiling them or proposing original interpretations. These findings indicate that the fragments should be understood not as comprehensive exegetical works but as practical manuscripts for reading, where brief notes were added within the limited margins: identifications of characters, short interpretations, references to waka and historical records, or occasional furigana. Overall, the evidence suggests that after the compilation of Kachō yosei in 1472, Kanera himself annotated Norifusa’s copy of The Tale of Genji. |
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