Keywords
Art History
Painting
A privately published Edo period topography and guide to famous places. Official topographies were compiled before these private publications but they were never printed. An early example of meishoki was the 1658 publication Kyōwarabe 京童 by the literatus Nakagawa Kiun 中川喜雲 (1636-1705). Scholars, priests and cultured men had a hand in producing many of these books, and their preferences and literary predilections endow the books with the character of a literary travelogue. Meishoki flourished during the Kanbun 寛文 (1661-73) and Enpō 延宝 (1673-81) eras. They were often illustrated, especially early examples.