Episode 552 – The Road Less Taken

November 1, 2024

This week: what can we learn about the past if we look not at elite literature, but at the lowbrow faire of the masses? We’ll explore this question using one of the most popular works of its day: Tokaidochu Hizakurige.

Sources

Jippensha, Ikku. Shank’s Mare: Japan’s Great Comic Novel of Travel and Ribaldry. Trans. Thomas Satchell.

Shores, Matthew W. “Travel and ‘Tabibanashi’ in the Early Modern Period: Forming Japanese Geographic Identity.” Asian Theatre Journal 25, no. 1 (2008)

Fabricand-Pearson, Nicole. “The Tōkaidō Road: Journeys through Japanese Books and Prints in the Collections of Princeton University.” The Princeton University Library Chronicle 73, no. 1 (2011)

Toshikazu, Shinno, and Laura Nenzi. “Journeys, Pilgrimages, Excursions: Religious Travels in the Early Modern Period.” Monumenta Nipponica 57, no. 4 (2002)

Images

Colorized print of a scene from Hizakurige by Hiroshige. The fact that he was making prints like this decades after the publication of the original text shows its enduring popularity in Edo literature.
A detail of a page from Hizakurige–you can see the combined text and illustration (both done by Jippensha Ikku).
The most famous portrait of Jippensha Ikku, from late in his career.
Marker on the site of Jippensha Ikku’s home.
Illustration and text from one of Jippensha Ikku’s other words (Otsuriki, a book of instructions on shadow puppetry, c. 1810).