Also called *chūhon 中本 or eiri chūgata yomihon 絵入中型読本; in the kamigata 上方 (Kyoto-Osaka region) they were known as suishobon 粋書本. Lit. "books about human feelings." A type of prose narrative which flourished during the early 19th century and continued to be published until the early Meiji period. The ninjōbon developed from the *sharebon 洒落本 and similarly dealt with contemporary life in the pleasure quarters of Edo, but the focus of each genre differed. The ninjōbon placed greater emphasis on the loves and lifestyles of townspeople and the emotional and psychological aspects of their amorous affairs. In contrast to sharebon which were written for male readers, ninjōbon were designed to appeal to women of the upper merchant and samurai 侍 class. The ninjōbon achieved a novelistic quality that both foreshadowed and to some extent influenced the work of modern novelists. The ninjōbon contained both woodblock printed frontispieces and illustrations. To compete with *gōkan 合巻, frontispieces and illustrations were designed to attract more readers. Later, even the covers of the books and book wrappers were brightly colored and decorated. Notable illustrators of ninjōbon included Keisai Eisen 溪斎英泉 (1790-1848), Utagawa Kuninao 歌川国直 (1793-1854) and other artists of the Utagawa school *Utagawa-ha 歌川派. The depiction of clothing and scenes was colorful and realistic, and the reader could learn of the fashions and taste expressed in the sensibility of *iki いき.