This week, the story of an Edo period writer whose primary claim to fame was producing decent ripoffs of people far more famous and talented than him. What does a career like that tell us about the book market in premodern Japan–and more importantly about what we as people tend to look for in the things we read?
Sources
Hibbett, Howard S. “Ejima Kiseki (1667-1736) and His Katagi-Mono.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 14, No. 3/4 (December, 1951)
Fox, Charles E. “Old Stories, New Mode: Ejima Kiseki’s Ukiyo Oyaji Katagi.” Monumenta Nipponica 43, No 1 ( Spring, 1988)
Johnson, Jeffrey. “Saikaku and the Narrative Turnabout.” Journal of Japanese Studies 27, no. 2 (2001)
Hibbett, Howard S. “Saikaku and Burlesque Fiction.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 20, no. 1/2 (1957)
Aston, W.G. A History of Japanese Literature. London: William Heinemann, 1899.
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