The Tale of the Great Ping

A complete collection of stories from the Song dynasty in China. 500 volumes. In 977, as with "The Great Peace," Li Fang and others received an imperial order to begin compiling it, and it was completed the following year. It contains 92 categories of stories written between the ancient and Song dynasties, ranging from gods, female immortals, Taoism, and Taoist priests to animals and plants, arranged in a similar style to a collection of other books, with the source added at the end of each story. The stories collected are literary novels from before the Song dynasty, such as mystical stories, stories about people, and legendary stories. Many of the stories are quoted from ancient books whose original form is no longer available today, so it is highly useful in that sense as well. Reported published versions include those published by Dan Kai of the Ming Dynasty (Danben), those published by Xu Zichang of the Ming Dynasty (Xu ben), and the Huang's Drapery Case Edition (Huangben), published as a kerchief case book (small book) by Huang Sheng of the Qing Dynasty. More recently, in 1959, the People's Literature Publishing House in Beijing published a typeset version using the Danben as the base and referring to the Xu edition and Huangben, as well as a copy by Shen Bianzhi of the Ming Dynasty and a collated version by Chen Yi of the Qing Dynasty.

[Minoru Takahashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、宋(そう)代の物語全書。500巻。977年、『太平御覧(たいへいぎょらん)』と同じく、李昉(りほう)らが勅命を受けて編纂(へんさん)にとりかかり、翌年完成した。内容は、神仙、女仙、道術、方士から動植物に至るまで、類書風にたてられた92の項目のもとに、上代から宋代に至るまでの間に著された小説を集め、それぞれの話の末に出典を付記している。集められた話は、志怪(しかい)小説、志人小説、伝奇小説など、宋代以前の文言（文語体）小説。今日もはや原形のみられない上代の書物からの引用が多いので、その意味でも利用価値は高い。刊本としては、明(みん)の談愷(たんがい)の出版したもの（談本(だんぽん)）、明の許自昌(きょじしょう)の出版したもの（許本(きょほん)）、清(しん)の黄晟(こうせい)が巾箱(きんそう)本（小型の本）として出版した黄氏巾箱本（黄本(こうほん)）などが伝えられており、近年では、1959年に、北京(ペキン)の人民文学出版社が、談本を底本とし、許本、黄本を参考にし、それに明の沈弁之(しんべんし)の写本と清の陳鱣(ちんせん)の校本を参照して活字本を出版した。

［高橋　稔］

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