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Books in the Edo period

Ukiyoe print tells you more than the picture itself. Prof. Sasaki and Prof. Ichinohe will introduce you what you can learn from this print.

The theme in Week 3 is “Book Publishing and Scholarship in Early-modern Japan”. Our educator will be Professor Wataru Ichinohe, a specialist of Edo-period publishing and literary culture.

In this video, you will learn some interesting things about the cultural background of the Edo period, from looking at this Ukiyoe print.

Please take a look at this Ukiyoe (Fig. 1) and think about what it shows before looking at the video to find out more.

^{Fig 1. Rikōmono (The Clever One) Kyōkun oya no megane (A Parent’s Edifying Spectacles) by Kitagawa Utamaro Click to take a closer look}

Era names (Nengō) in Edo Period

There were several era names (nengo, or gengo) in Edo period (1603 ~ 1867) and they are sometimes used in the description of the old books and materials. Here is the list of the era names in Edo period for your convenience;

Start	Era name	English	Start	Era name	English
1596	慶長	Keichō	1744	延享	Enkyō
1615	元和	Genna	1748	寛延	Kan’en
1624	寛永	Kan’ei	1751	宝暦	Hōreki
1644	正保	Shōhō	1764	明和	Meiwa
1648	慶安	Keian	1772	安永	An’ei
1652	承応	Jōō	1781	天明	Tenmei
1655	明暦	Meireki	1789	寛政	Kansei
1658	万治	Manji	1801	享和	Kyōwa
1661	寛文	Kanbun	1804	文化	Bunka
1673	延宝	Enpō	1818	文政	Bunsei
1681	天和	Tenna	1830	天保	Tenpō
1684	貞享	Jōkyō	1844	弘化	Kōka
1688	元禄	Genroku	1848	嘉永	Kaei
1704	宝永	Hōei	1854	安政	Ansei
1711	正徳	Shōtoku	1860	万延	Man’en
1716	享保	Kyōhō	1861	文久	Bunkyū
1736	元文	Genbun	1864	元治	Genji
1741	寛保	Kanpō	1865	慶応	Keiō