diff --git a/ice-9/format.scm b/ice-9/format.scm
index fce2737ce..40f20b3da 100644
--- a/ice-9/format.scm
+++ b/ice-9/format.scm
@@ -1670,7 +1670,9 @@
 
 (define format:abort (lambda () (error "error in format")))
 
-(define format format:format)
+;;(define format format:format)
+;; Thanks to Shuji Narazaki
+(variable-set! (builtin-variable 'format) format:format)
 
 ;; If this is not possible then a continuation is used to recover
 ;; properly from a format error. In this case format returns #f.