A Study of the Binding of the Iyo-gire Manuscript of the Wakan Rōeishū and Its Use of Syllabic Characters

Abstract

Early manuscripts of the Wakan rōeishū 和漢朗詠集 considered to be in the same hand as the third of the three calligraphers of the Kōya-gire 高野切 manuscript, traditionally identified as Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之, and considered to belong to the same line of manuscripts include the Detchōbon 粘葉本, Konoe 近衛, and Hōrinji-gire 法輪寺切 manuscripts, all attributed to Fujiwara no Yukinari 藤原行成. In addition, the calligraphic styles used in the Iyo-gire 伊予切 manuscript in particular, also attributed to Fujiwara no Yukinari, can be divided into three distinct styles.
  When he was preparing a reproduction of the Iyo-gire manuscript, Tanaka Shinbi 田中親美 distinguished three calligraphic styles and excluded from his reproduction the sections written in the third style on the grounds that "they were added in later times." Since then, many divergent views on these three styles have been put forward. Nagoya Akira 名児耶明, for example, suggested that the Iyo-gire manuscript had been copied by three contemporaneous calligraphers, while Komatsu Shigemi 小松茂美 proposed that the first and second styles represented changes due to "the passage of time" and argued that they were by the same person.
  In this article, I accordingly first examine the binding of the Iyo-gire manuscript. I take note of the fact that in the course of its transmission the manuscript was rebound, with the original pasted (or butterfly) binding (detchōsō 粘葉装) being changed to multi-section binding (tetsuyōsō 綴葉装). I examine in particular the part of the second fascicle in which the second and third styles of calligraphy are intermixed.
  I also wish to draw attention to the fact, mentioned above, that there have survived many early manuscripts in the same hand and belonging to the same line of manuscripts as the Iyo-gire manuscript. The importance of examining preferences in the use of syllabic characters has been pointed out by Komatsu, who writes that "there were considerable differences in the syllabic characters used, even among contemporaries, and they could be said to possess subjective significance." Taking into account differences in preferences for the syllabic characters used in various early manuscripts, I highlight the characteristics of the preferences to be seen in each of the three calligraphic styles found in the Iyo-gire manuscript, and by this means I redefine the position of each of these styles.