Research to restore the contents of the Ogasawara Bunko

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00327
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02010:Japanese literature-related
• Research Institution: The University of Kitakyushu
• Principal Investigator: Watase Junko 北九州市立大学, 文学部, 教授 (90708637)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 大名文庫 / 小笠原家

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Ogasawara family's library, which remains today, can be divided into two main categories: those related to the family history, such as genealogy and family history, and those related to the family's academic studies, such as samurai traditions and etiquette. However, since it appears from the records that the family presented "Kokinshu" to the Tokugawa shoguns at the time of the succession of the head of the family, I assumed that there was a large collection that included books on literature as well.　I then conducted a search for the scattered books in the collection, hoping that the library stamps would provide clues. As a result, we found that the Ogasawara family had a collection of literary books, including stories, poetry, and Haikai books, as well as Noh and kyogen plays and Chinese classics. I also found that there were two types of library seals that were very similar, and that there seemed to be a difference in the period in which they were used.

Free Research Field

日本文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

江戸時代の大名が多くの書物を収集していたことは知られているが、それらの蔵書の多くは明治維新後、旧大名家の経済状況が悪化する中で売却され失われてしまった。これらの蔵書のうち、現存するものは蔵書印を頼りにその内容をある程度復元できることが分かったことは、蔵書印の重要性を裏付けるものでもある。また、小笠原家の蔵書印は使用時期によって二種類あることも分かり、江戸後期から明治にかけて押されたものである可能性が高い。このことからは、蔵書印によって藩主のコレクションを管理するようになったのが他藩に比べても遅かったことが分かる。今回の研究成果は蔵書印の文化についても新たな問題を提起することになると思われる。