KAN-NO MADO?

[The Early Origami]

In the 19th century, ADACHI KAZUYUKI wrote an encyclopedia. He titled volume 1-20 "NANIYARA-GUSA", and volume 21-30 "KAYARA-GUSA". (NANIYARA-KAYARA means "this, that, and the other".) This encyclopedia consists of over 200 volumes and was completed in 1845.

In volume 27 and 28 (i.e. volume 7 and 8 of KAYARA-GUSA), we can see dozens of origami models. He copied them from other different books (maybe 3 books). One of them was "OGASAWARA-RYU ORIKATA TAIZEN (The Complete Origami of the OGASAWARA School)", which was a book of wrapping published in 1801.

So, this book should be called KAYARA-GUSA, but it is sometimes called KAN-NO MADO. Why?

The original copy of KAYARA-GUSA is in Japan, though we cannot see it easily because it belongs to a company. Another copy is in the Library of Congress in U.S.A., and this copy was found earlier than the origanal one. According to this copy, the title of the encyclopedia is "KAN-NO MADO".

According to the origanal one, however, the encyclopedia has no title. The title of volume 51-55 is "FUYU-NO MADO (The Window of the Winter)". Maybe the copier thought by misunderstand that it is the title of the encyclopedia, and he miscopied it to KAN-NO MADO (The Window of the Mid Winter).