By:

Anupreet Kaur and Srujana Karnati

M.A. II Year
CJS, SLL & CS
Jawaharlal Nehru University
 Kanazoushi
 Ukiyozoushi
 Gesaku Bungaku
 Yomihon
 Kusazoushi
 Sharebon
 Kokkeibon
 Dangibon
 Ninjoubon
 Written in Kana and primarily produced in Kyoto
 Authors were mainly aristocrats, priests and samurai’s, hence the nature was didactic
 Quickly became popular with the development of woodblock printing
 Said to be more realistic as compared to Otogizoushi with fewer supernatural elements
 Considered to have bridged the gap between medieval works and the high point of Edo
literature - Ukiyozoushi
 Ukeyomonogatari (Asai Ryoui)
 Isohomonogatari (Anonymous)
 Otogiboukou (Asai Ryoui)
 Tokaidou meishoki (Asai Ryoui)
 Seisuisho (Anraku Ansakuden)
 Nisemonogatari (Anonymous)
 Emerged in latter half of the 17th Century
 Developed from Kanazoushi style of literature
 Depicts life of townspeople
 Stories published in a fixed size and length
 Published for profit
 Divided into amorous tales, tales about the merchant class
and tales about the Samurai class
 Author Ihara Saikaku is the pioneer of this genre
 1682年：『好色一代男』（こうしょくいちだいおとこ）― 井原西鶴

 1687年：『武道伝来記』（ぶどうでんらいき）― 井原西鶴

 1688年：『日本永代蔵』（にっぽんえいたいぐら）― 井原西鶴
 Influenced by Chinese vernacular novels
 Less illustrations as compared to Kusazoushi and more emphasis on text
 Earlier Yomihon focused on Kyoto and its surrounding areas
 Later works focus on Edo
 Earlier works:
 Chinese vernacular novels popular amongst intellectuals
 Confucian scholar 都賀庭鐘（つがていしょう）－『今古奇観』（きんこきかん）－『
古今奇談英草子』（こきんきだんはなぶさぞうし）
 上田秋成（うえだあきなり）－『雨月物語』；『春雨物語』（はるさめものがたり）
 Characteristics : Romance and mystery
 Later works:
 Long novels with a complex structure. Based on Confucian belief of rewarding the good
and punishing the evil and Buddhist ideology of retribution
 Writing style : Classical style or a mix of Japanese and Chinese characters
 Famous authors and their works:
 山東京伝（さんとうきょうでん）－『忠臣水滸伝』（ちゅうしんすいこでん）
 滝沢罰金（たきざわばっきん）－『椿説弓張月』（ちんてつゆみはりづき）；『南総
里見八犬伝』（なんそうさとみはっけんでん）
 Also known as 絵本 (Picture Books)
 Initially aimed at children
 Later new genres aimed at adults also emerged
 The ones aimed at children contained folktales
 The ones for adults contained tales of revenge,
depictions of the pleasure quarters
 Majorly divided into five categories
 赤本 （あかほん）
 黒本 （くろほん）
 青本 （あおほん）
 黄表紙 （きびょうし）
 合巻 （ごうかん）
 Created in the mid-18th Century
 Created by scholars of Chinese classics
 Describes life in the pleasure quarters of Japan
 Depicted in a humorous and entertaining manner
 Inspired by Ihara Saikaku’s Koushoku Monogatari
 Written in a colloquial manner
 Contains realistic descriptions
 1770年：『遊子方言』（ゆうしほうげん）― 田舎老人多田爺

 1787年：『通言総籬』（つうげんそうまがき）― 山東京伝
 Depicts lives of commoners in a humorous manner
 Writing style - colloquial
 Earlier period Kokkeibon known as 談義本
（だんぎぼん）
 Famous authors and works:
 十返舎一九（じっぺんしゃいっく）－東海道中膝
栗毛（とうかいどうちゅうひざくりげ）
 式亭三馬（しきていさんば）－浮世風呂（うきよ
ぶろ）；浮世床（うきよどこ）
 A type of Kokkeibon
 Combines moralistic teachings with humour
 Majorly satirical in nature
 Used to convey Buddhist teachings to the masses
 Gained popularity in the latter half of 18th Century
 1752年：『当世下手談義』（いまようへただんぎ）
― 静観房好阿
 Developed from Sharebon
 Greater emphasis on daily lives, love and lifestyle of
common people
 Written for upper class women
 Written in colloquial style
 Representative author : Tamenaga Shunsui
 Representative work : Shunshoku Umegoyomi
 Decline of Ninjoubon after Tempo reforms and the
imprisonment of Shunsui
 Araki, James T (1969). Sharebon: Books for Men of Mode, Monumenta Nipponica, Vol.

24, No. 1/2, pp. 31-45

 Keene, Donald (1999). Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to

the Late Sixteenth Century. Columbia University Press

 Keene, Donald (1976). World within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-Modern Era

1600-1867. New York: Grove Press

 出典: ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典