KURENAI : Kyoto University Researc

The Japanese studies of Andreas MOller ( 1630-1694)
1.4.1. The Meakensian manuscript
Blessed with the opportunity to purchase either Muller's actual source or at least a nearidentical
one in 1988, Komicki ( 1993: esp. 513-515) has already clarified the exact nature
of the manuscript referred to as "Meakensian" by Mi.iller. It is based on any of the popular
primers known under the name Nanatsu iroha 1:::: '/ v \0 fj: (Sevenfold iroha), which
contain the iroha poem, usually with kyo~ added, each of its syllables being followed by
six Chinese characters of identical or at least similar reading? ' The same is usually repeated
for the basic numerals. Additional materials that may or may not be present include,
among others, another iroha in katakana, the stems and branches of the sexagenary cycle,
a list of radicals, of characters used in personal names or of province names for instance. 22
In the "Catalogus Sinicorum & aliorum Orientalium rariorum librorum & Manuscriptorum
qui ab Andr. Mullero bibliothecre Marianre sunt donati & h. t. adsunt" (Catalogue of Chinese
and other oriental rare books and manuscripts which were donated by Andreas Muller to the
library of Marienstiftsgyrnnasium and which are currently there; Ebert 1783: VIlli-XI)
we meet with what Komicki ( 1993: 515) has already identified - certainly correctly - as
the Meakensian manuscript (section on ''Rare oriental manuscripts", item # 11):
Alphabetum Japanicum Sinice explicatum Fol. Perg. Band in Miacko gekauft.
(The Japanese alphabet, explained in Chinese. In folio, parchment-bound,
bought in Miyako.)
The reference to the place of purchase coincides which the Dutch inscription Komicki's
exemplar carries on its title page - "Japans a, b, c, boek, in Miako gekogt" (Japanese ABC
book, bought in Miyako [i.e. Kyoto]) -, while the addition "Sinice explicatum" refers to
what Muller writes in "SJ", #8, namely that in this manuscript "the respective letters are
expressed by six Chinese characters".
2 1
The first iroha is often given in hiragana, just as in MUller's manuscript, but at times also in seal
script for instance (or even both). The six (sometimes seven) Chinese characters added to this all have readings
identical to or at least commencing with the syllable in question, be they Sino-Japanese or purely Japanese. Note
that these six characters do not necessarily have to be ones that were used phonographically to represent that
syllable, although the set of phonograms and the characters given often show some over1apping elements.
22
Komicki's manuscript has the iroha in hiragana (plus !.yo) with six additional characters each, followed
by the numerals from one to ten, the sexaganary cycle and another iroha in lwtakana.
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