Manuscript, not Print: Scribal Culture in the Edo Period

Abstract

In the early seventeenth century, printing underwent a rapid transformation in Japan in the hands of commercial publishers. However, print did not spell the end of scribal traditions and manuscripts continued to be produced in quantity, in order to preserve knowledge, to circulate news or local history, and to disseminate forms of writing that could not be printed for reasons of censorship. Among these were fictional works, known as jitsuroku, which were based on political scandals and vendettas. Using Keian taiheiki as an example, this article demonstrates that such manuscripts circulated widely even among rural cultivators.