Abstract
From the beginning of the eighteenth century, rural enthusiasts in the arts took part in production of printed materials, often with help from urban professionals and the publishing industry. Their works in print constitute concrete evidence of the diffusion of the arts from urban centres to the provinces during the Tokugawa period. Taking Echigo province as a case study, this essay explores provincial amateurs’ publishing projects, particularly in haikai and Chinese poetry. Materials in this province show a steady development of cultural mechanisms that promoted provincial people's participation in book publishing and printmaking as an objective of their literary activities. This study provides evidence of interplay between the growing print culture and people's desire to publish their works in the context of the development of mass culture in Tokugawa society.
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