The Construction and Structure of Japanese Woodblock Books of the Tokugawa Period (Based on the 1833 Edition of Hyakunin Isshu Hitoyogatari)
https://doi.org/10.55105/2687-1440-2025-54-148-175
Abstract
From the 1620s until the last quarter of the 19th century, most books published in Japan were woodblock printed. In comparison to modern books, woodblock books had a number of specific features. Books were almost always bound in the same way, which is called fukurotoji (sheets printed only on one side were folded in half, collected in a pile, and sewn to the cover, which was also a sheet of thick paper). Variations of symbols could be used for the same kana character, but the reading of the kanji characters was often spelled out. The title of the book was usually indicated on a small narrow sheet of paper glued to the cover. Of particular importance for a woodblock printed book is calligraphy in which the main text, preface, afterword, and other elements are written. Many authors created not just a text, but a book, and were book designers. One of such designers was Ozaki Masayoshi (1755–1827), the author of the work Hyakunin Isshu Hitoyogatari (Evening Stories About “One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets”), published in Ōsaka in 1833.
Since the author was a famous calligrapher, the creators of the book, who published the work after the author’s death, preserved his ideas regarding the design and were guided by his handwriting. A well-known artist Ōishi Matora (1792–1833) took part in the creation of the book, and the publishing house commissioned famous intellectuals to write a preface, afterword, and epigraph for the book. The article examines the construction of the book, the way the main text is presented, the elements surrounding the main text, i.e., what, according to literary scholar Gérard Genette, enables a text to become a book. In the context of general information about woodblock printing of the Tokugawa period, the features of the book Hyakunin Isshu Hitoyogatari are considered: printed sheet, binding, method of writing the text, illustrations, preface, table of contents, epigraph, afterword, colophon.
About the Author
M. V. Toropygina
Institute of Oriental Studies RAS
Россия
Россия
Toropygina, Maria V. PhD of Sciences (Philology), Senior researcher
12 Rozhdestvenka Street, Moscow, 107031
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Review
For citations:
Toropygina M.V. The Construction and Structure of Japanese Woodblock Books of the Tokugawa Period (Based on the 1833 Edition of Hyakunin Isshu Hitoyogatari). Yearbook Japan. 2025;54:148-175. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.55105/2687-1440-2025-54-148-175
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