An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750-1850

Introduction: The Production and Consumption of Literature in a Flourishing Metropolis

THE CITY IN POPULAR LITERATURE The expression “popular literature” assumes readership not restricted by class or education. Its authorship could belong to scholarly, religious, or noble classes, but the writing is aimed at a broader audience. In this sense, popular literature in any culture can go back to the Middle Ages or earlier, and Japan is no exception. A fairly large body of popular literature rose during the early Edo period (1600–1750) to reflect the interests of a burgeoning merchant class and its increased rates of literacy. Based in the traditional cities of Kyoto and Osaka, generally called Kamigata, prose fiction depicted bourgeois concerns, poetry expressed common sentiments, and theater acted out the fates and passions of merchants and prostitutes side by side with those great samurai heroes. ThegenresofurbanliteraturethatemergedinEdoofthemid-eighteenth century were largely invented from scratch rather than replicating the legacy of the older cities. The works contained in this volume are a product of the latter half of the Edo period (1750–1850) and largely represent newly created genres that focus, in their production and consumption, on the city of Edo, now Tokyo. The conspicuous characteristic of Edo literature was that it was immersed in the life of the city itself and it was increasingly intended for commercial distribution. It celebrated the rapid changes, extraordinary events, and scandalous news of the city of the day. Innovative and ambitious THE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF LITERATURE IN A FLOURISHING METROPOLIS SUMIE JONES  2 INTRODUCTION young writers, actors, and visual artists found Edo full of possibility, both in terms of adventure and as a market eager for the new. New genres and art forms grew quickly, bequeathing instant fame on a burgeoning group of tastemakers. Their writings were sometimes witty, wild, and bawdy, and at other times sensitive, wise, and polished. The period’s appellation derives from the name of the capital city, but it is also referred to as the “Tokugawa period,” after the ruling clan. The city faced Edo Bay on the southeast side and spread uphill to the north, while the shogun’s castle occupied a large area in the city’s center, surrounded by the mansions of the shogun’s vassals (hatamoto) and daimyo, many of whom had second and even third residences farther away from the castle. Commoners occupied the rest of the city: everyone from wealthy bankers (fudashi) and merchants to denizens of alley tenements. Temples and shrines complete the picture, rising up from the city’s common neighborhoods . Unlike in other regions, the capital was governed directly by the national ruler and the city was chiefly the bureaucratic capital of Japan but by the eighteenth century came to flourish as a commercial and cultural center as well. Literary writers residing in the city shared its citizens’ pride and joy, producing a literature that was highly self-conscious and rampantly self-referential. Edo was not merely the locale for their writings; it was their topos of celebration for their city, its districts, its products, its entertainments , and its residents. Along with Edocentrism, a keen awareness of writing as a commodity characterizes Edo’s popular culture: artists, writers, and publishers collaborated to turn a profit by selling books about Edo written by Edoites. The importance of readers increased as their consumption habits affected book production. Author and reader had developed—and would maintain—a conspiratorial and rather incestuous relationship. The blissful façade of the city’s prosperity and the self-congratulatory tone of its literary production and reception, however, covered a dark political and social reality. The two and a half centuries of the Edo period under Tokugawa rule was without a war, but that peace came with a high price: an oppressive government that used various mechanisms to obstruct the commoners’ pursuit of individual happiness and the nation’s chances for modernization. Tokugawa rule enforced laws to suppress the benefits of capitalism among common citizens and generally sanctioned the interests of the samurai class. The regime maintained its control by forming a strict bureaucratic system, constructing a class structure that placed samurai on top, farmers second, artisans third, and merchants at the bottom. Those who engaged in professions that were considered unrespectable, such as entertainers and lowly laborers, did not even belong to the scheme. Ports were closed to foreign ships, except for a designated one that was open to INTRODUCTION 3 the Dutch, the Chinese, and the Koreans, further distancing the...