1Workshop
p on Japanesepold and rare books in HNL2017
2017.2.17. Honolulu Museum of Art

Introduction to kuzushiji (cursive Japanese calligraphy)
As an example of Fuji no Hitoana owned by the Honolulu Museum of Art

National Institute of Japanese Literature
KOIDA Tomoko

1. What is kuzushiji ?
1-1. The word kuzushiji くずし字 refers to a form of abbreviated or cursiveJapanese
pcalligraphy.
g p y As with all forms of Japanesepwriting,
g, the art ofcursive calligraphy is based on Chinese characters (kanji 漢字).
Cursive calligraphy was developed through a process of graduallyomitting
Chinese characters,
therebyhighlyitti strokes
t k ffrom Chiht
thb fformingi a hihl
stylized set of abbreviated characters. These characters were firstp as a means of annotatingg Sinitic p
passages
g found in Japanesepdeveloped
old and rare books (kotenseki 古典籍) and old documents (komonjo 古文書).
1-2. There are those characters which, having been so greatly abbreviated,look very little like the original kanji from which they were developed.
Furthermore, the particular shape of a given character depends onwhere it appears within a sentence; the shape of a cursive characterchanges depending on how it is connected with those characterscoming immediately before and after it. This last system is known as
cursive script (sōsho 草書).

2

3

1. What is kuzushiji ?
1-3. Hiragana 平仮名 is a blanket term referring to all thecursive scripts used throughout Japanese history. For
example, the hiragana character a あ is derived from anabbreviated version of the bottom part of the kanji 安. Thislatter character is pronounced an,an for which reason it wasused, by removing the final -n, to refer to the Japanesesound a. Those kanji, like an 安, which form the root ofhiragana characters, are known collectively as jibo 字母,literally, word-mothers.
1 4 As
1-4.
A jjustt mentioned,ti
d any given
icursive
i characterht may hhave anumber of variants. In premodern hiragana scripts, theya was represented
pnot only
y by
y abbreviatingg thesyllable
character an 安, but also by abbreviating other Chinesecharacters whose Japanese pronunciation approximates thisd S
l iinclude
l d theth Chihta sound.
Some example
Chinese charactersa阿and ai 愛. These alternative versions of cursive charactersy, altered kana.
are known as hentai ggana 変体仮名, literally,

Fuji no Hitoana, Daisen 題簽,
Honolulu Museum of Art,
2006.0341.01, 2006.0341.02

1. What is kuzushiji ?
1-5. When examining cursive calligraphy, you will no doubt
come across the following two symbols: ゝ and く. These
are all symbols meaning that the previous character should
be repeated, just like the ditto mark in English. These dittomarks
k are kknown as odoriji
d iji 踊り字,踊り字 literally,lill dancing
dicharacters. The symbol ゝ means that a single character isto be repeated, while a lengthened く means that the two
previous characters are to be repeated.

Fuji no Hitoana, 2006.0341.01, 2006.0341.02,
Honolulu Museum of Art

4

2. Tools to assist in reading cursive calligraphy＊Books52-1Zōho kaitei kanahentaishū, byIjichi Tetsuo (ed),Shintensha, 1975.
￥378

2-2
Jiten kana : shahon oyomu tanoshimi,
hi i
by Kasama Eiin Sōkan
Kankōkai, Kasama Shoin,2003; a newly boundedition in 2006.￥842

2-3
Kuzushiji yōrei jiten,
Kōta
by Kodama Kōta,
Tōkyōdō Shuppan,
1981; a newly boundedition in 1993.
￥6,2642-4
Kuzushiji kaidoku jiten,
by Kodama Kōta,
Tōkyōdō Shuppan,1970 ; a newlyy boundedition in 1993.
￥2,376

2. Tools to assist in reading cursive calligraphy＊Books2-5
Sōsho kensaku
jjiten,, byy EmoriKenji, Sanseidō,2007.￥10,260

2-6
Kuzushiji jiten,
by Hatano Yukihiko,Tegami No Kai,
Shibunkaku Shuppan,
2000.￥6,480

2-7
27Kinsei komonjo
kaidoku jiten, by
Hayashi Hideo
Hideo, etcetc,Kashiwa Shobō,1972; a newly
bound edition in1996.￥10,260

2-8Shikj
Shinpenkomonjokaidoku jiten, by
Hayashi Hideo, etc,
Kashiwa Shobō, 1993.
￥3,3566

2. Tools to assist in reading cursive calligraphy＊Application and site

3-1 The Hentaigana App
By UCLA and Waseda
University

3-2 Kuzushiji Learning
Application
KuLA
By Osaka University

33-2′ Appli
ppli demanabu kuzushiji,
by Iikura Yoichi((ed),), KasamaShoin, 2017.
￥864

3-3 Classical KanaBy XJIE YANG

7

2. Tools to assist in reading cursive calligraphy＊Application and site

3-5 Kyoto University

https://honkoku.org/

3-4 Denshi Kuzushiji Jiten DB/Mokkan Jiten
By Historiographical Institute
The University of Tokyo andNara National Research Institutefor Cultural Properties.
http://clioapi.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ships/ZClient/W34/※ TOPPAN PRINTING CO.,LDT. / NIJL-NW project8

5. Practice reading cursive calligraphy.

Fuji no Hitoana, Otogi-zōshi お伽草子（popular vernacular fiction）.
No colophon; two illustrated large books 無刊記絵入大本2冊. 2006.0341.01/2006.0341.02, Honolulu Museum of Art
This tale, based on an episode found in Mirror of the East 吾妻鏡, is also known simply as Hitoana Cave at Mount Fuji (Fuji nohitoana 富士の人穴) or Nitta Shirō (Nitta shirō 仁田四郎), after the protagonist Nitta Shirō Tadatsune 新田四郎忠常 (1167-1203),
who was commanded to explore Hitoana Cave and takes a tour of hell by the guidance of the Great Bodhisattva Sengen 浅間大菩薩 .
There are many manuscripts and printed editions. More than 40 manuscripts exist, including one copied late in the Muromachi
period, and one in the eighth year of Keichō 慶長 (1603) . There are 15 lineages of printed editions, including illustrated large
books 絵入り大本 printed with old moveable type 古活字版 between Genna and Kanei 元和・寛永 (1615-43), as well as otherillustrated woodblock large books 絵入り整版 printed one in the fourth year of Kan’ei 寛永 (1627), one in the third year ofKeian 慶安 (1650), one in the fourth year of Meireki 明暦 (1658), one in the second year of Manji 万治 (1659), and others.

9冒頭（正 治）（公）（殿） （和田）□□□しやうぢ元年四月三日と申に（頼 家）

よりいへのかうのとのわたの平太 を 召 て 仰 け る は（音）なんち入て見て参れと 仰 有 け れ はは此あなにいか成ふしきなる事のあるらん

はかり にて 見 る 者□□□ なし。され□□□ □□□ と申せ共□□□ 聞たる

いかに平太うけ給はれ□□□ よりをとにきく

5. Practice reading cursive calligraphy.

10末尾此□□□ をきく人は□□□□□□ へ曽毛く・武可之・不之乃人安奈・以末多・佐良仁
佐宇之・不之古无个无・与久く・宇多可比・者川

南無大権現と八へんとなふべし。

たいこんけん

いかにもごしやう一大事と思ふへし。御冨士ふ し

あ れ は 大 ほさつ の御□□ をかうふる也。

ごしやうをねかふへし。すこしも□□□□。 □□ 心をかけて一度参りたるにあたる 也 □5. Practice reading cursive calligraphy.

11

6. Tools to assist in reading Otogi
Otogi--zōshi

Otogi-zōshi no sekai , byNara Ehon Kokusaii
Kenkyū Kaigi (ed),Sanseidō, 1982

Chusei ōchō monogatarijiten byotogizōshi jiten,
Kanda Tatsumi andNishizawa Masashi. (ed),B
Benseishai h Shuppan,Sh
2002.￥27,000

Otogizōshi jiten, by(ed)Tokuda Kazui (ed),Tokyōdō Shuppan,
2002.
￥7 344￥7,34412

6. Tools to assist in reading Otogi
Otogi--zōshi

National Institute of Japanese Literature Website14

6. Tools to assist in reading Otogi
Otogi--zōshi

貴重書99-193-1〜3https://doi.org/10.20730/200021072

Fuji no Hitoana, Nara-ehon , color on paper between Kanbun 寛文 and Enpō 延宝（1661-81）,
National Institute of Japanese Literature15

6. Tools to assist in reading Otogi
Otogi--zōshi6. Tools to assist in reading Otogi
Otogi--zōshi