Buson's version is based on a particular textual variant that is called 初懐紙本, hatsukaishibon, perhaps? or 初懐本, shokaihon? This looks like a version that emerged later in the chain of versions, and seems to be rather unlike the others in many important respects, such as where it ends and the sequence of some of the episodes.
Here is a list of the different versions. Scholars arrived at this typology by detailed analysis of tiny differences in the grammar and content. (Japanese literature scholars are masters at this kind of painstaking, precise work.) The typology below comes from Yayoshi Ken'ichi 弥吉菅一, Bashô Nozarashi kikô no kenkyû 芭蕉『野ざらし紀行』の研究 (1986).
Type 1. 菊本本 [天理本] (Jôkyô 2, 1685?)
Type 2. 泊船本 (Genroku 11, 1698)
Type 3. 孤屋本 (Jôkyô 3, 1686)
Type 4. 三康本 (Jôkyô 3-4, 1686-7)
Type 5. 初懐本 (Hôreki 11, 1761)
Buson's version is related to Type 5. It was copied by hand. Interestingly, a lot of these were actually woodblock printed.
(Chômu's version, which I hope to discuss in a later post, is related to the Hakusen ms., Type 2. It dates from An'ei 5, 1776))
Anyway, I'm making myself crazy with all of this, and I am going to stop trying to figure it out. The chart on page 512 on Yayoshi's book lists over 30 distinct versions of Nozarashi kikô published or compiled between 1685 and 1863, which is pretty amazing. (Some of these are conjectural, based on analysis of existing versions.) Of course the actual text is pretty short, and in most cases it was included as part of collections of Bashô's works.
However, I notice a couple of points:
- there's a slightly perceptible concentration of publication/compilation dates between 1761 - 1780 (7) which makes sense, considering these were the years of the Bashô Revival and
- between 1802 and 1853, there were 5 new versions; 4 were printed and 1 was hand-copied.
- some either are or seem to be reprints of earlier copies.
