yomihon 読本

Lit. "reading books." An Edo period woodblock printed novel prevalent from the mid to late Edo period that focused on serious and penetrating studies of human affairs. In contrast to many earlier types of Edo period books, the yomihon were first and foremost literary creations centering on the prose and containing few illustrations. The texts of yomihon were written in a literate and intellectually demanding style, with story elements drawn from Chinese vernacular literature and Japanese military chronicles. The contents were moralistic and often didactic. Yomihon employed historical settings, interweaving factual events and personalities with fictional stories. The authors adopted a scholarly tone yet were committed to literary craftsmanship and entertainment. All of these features placed yomihon in contrast to other forms of literature of the time and appealed to a literate audience of urbanized samurai 侍 and educated townsmen. The high cost of the books and the fact that the ideas and vocabulary were drawn from Chinese prototypes made the books inaccessible to the average person. Further, yomihon were published in multiple volumes, in most cases appearing in sets of five sections. Because of their length, most copies were consigned to book rental libraries which operated in the major cities.
The first yomihon was a set of nine short stories entitled Kokon kaidan hanabusa sōshi 古今怪談英草紙 (1749). The production of early yomihon was centered in the Kyoto and Osaka region of Japan while Edo became the center for later development. Kamigata 上方 (Kyoto-Osaka region) examples include Nishikawa monogatari 西川物語 (1768) and Honchō suikoden 本朝水滸伝 (1773) by Takebe Ayatari 建部綾足 (1719-74), and the Ugetsu monogatari 雨月物語 (1768) and the Harusame monogatari 春雨物語 (1808) by Ueda Akinari 上田秋成 (1734-1809). Yomihon issued in Edo developed into full-length historical novels. A major writer of these novels was Kyokutei Bakin 曲亭馬琴 (1767-1848), also known as Takizawa Bakin 滝沢馬琴. His works include Sanshichi zenden nanka (no) yume 三七全伝南柯夢 (1808), Chinsetsu yumiharizuki 椿説弓張月 (1807-11; see *Yumiharizuki 弓張月) and the extremely lengthy Nansō satomi hakkenden 南総里見八犬伝 (1814-42; see *Hakkenden 八犬伝). Another important yomihon novelist was Santō Kyōden 山東京伝 (1761-1816), who wrote Sakurahime zenden akebono (no) sōshi 桜姫全伝曙草紙 (1805) and Mukashigatari inazuma sōshi 昔語稲妻草紙 (1806).
In the yomihon, the fact that illustrations were sparse allowed them to be printed on separate pages in contrast to most forms of illustrated literature of the time which put text and illustrations on the same page. Larger and more detailed designs were possible as a result. Illustrations in yomihon were of two kinds: kuchi-e 口絵 (frontispieces), which were printed on heavy paper, sometimes in color; and *sashi-e 挿絵 (contextual illustrations) which were interspersed with the text. These were usually in black and white, with some use of half-tone overprinting. The premier yomihon writer-illustrator team was Bakin and Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849). Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国 (1769-1825), Toyohiro 豊広 (1773-1828), and Keisai Eisen 溪斎英泉 (1790-1848) also illustrated yomihon.
There was a smaller version of the yomihon in the *chūhon 中本 size which appeared from the Kansei 寛政 through the Ansei 安政 eras (1789-1860). They were made of mino paper *minogami 美濃紙 and were smaller than the normal hanshibon 半紙本 size yomihon, which were produced from sheets of *hanshi 半紙 paper folded in half and were on the average 165 x 235 mm. The chūhon version consisted of three or four booklets. These dealt with tales of revenge, love stories, ghost stories, and other tales enjoyed by young people. The attention to plot construction and matters of technique in the yomihon in general had considerable influence on the pioneers of modern Japanese literature and contributed to the style of the contemporary historical novel.