400 YEARS AGO,
TOKYO WAS AN
INFORMATION-ORIENTED CITY
KNOWN AS EDO
The Japanese people are currently re-evaluating the life-style of the Edo period. Many had previously thought of the Edo period as a feudal dark age that fell far behind the progress of history. Surprisingly however, extensive research has proven that the city of Edo was very affluent, diverse and highly developed.
Judging by present standards, this era didn't produce many technological advances. There were few devices that we could really call "machines" and the effects of disease and starvation on the people were at times, devastating. Through these descriptions we are given the impression that people were ruled by feudal governments and often suffered from starvation and disease.
These descriptions closely resemble the historical incidents which Japan experienced after the Edo period. European culture influenced the thinking and behavior of some during this era. Such people are said to have helped bring an end to this period. In the period following Edo, called Meiji, many people deemed the traditions and life-styles of Edo to be old fashioned and of little value. By employing the benefits of the Industrial Revolution, great efforts were made to overtake the highly advanced European countries in areas of economics and technology.
Especially in comparison to other Asian countries, these radical changes helped Japan to take advantage of those benefits and make rapid economical progress. However, some feel that we have forgotten much during the course of development. Especially the unique cultural values created by the common people to promote harmonious living, which seems to have been lost in the process of modernization.
Those values are quite similar to the values we trying to establish today. A good example can be found in the communications and networks that we using today. When publishing became popular in Europe, Japan also made great improvements in its publishing system during the Edo period.
In Europe, books were published mostly for political and religious purposes. However here in Japan, they were used by the general public as sources of information for daily life. Accordingly, publications were meant to enrich the life and offer useful information to the general public. They were not initially intended for spreading ideological control and regulation over the people.
In order to realize this ideal, conventional "typeface" printing, which originated from China and Korea, was once abolished and plate making techniques were adopted. This made it possible to combine character or text layouts with graphics or drawings on the same sheet of paper. A similar concept is currently used in the Graphic User Interface (GUI) systems of the Macintosh and Windows. The techniques employed during the Edo period facilitated the use and acceptance of today's personal computers as a media tool for the general public in Japan.
Astonishingly, there was a networking system used during the Edo period that is very similar in function to the present-day Internet. In those days, Europe had developed a mail service and Japan had a similar private letter delivery service called "Hikyaku." In addition to this service, there was a network specifically developed for "Haiku" in Japan. Haiku lovers set up networks of local offices or "servers" for collecting and exchanging their Haiku, information and news from all over Japan.
Through this network, not only was Haiku exchanged but also literary works written by members were sent to key cities like Edo to be published into books. This system resembles correspondence courses of today. Through this network, members living in rural areas received instruction and advice from teachers living in urban, suburban or distant areas. In addition, it was common for members to share the same literary works written and relayed collectively, such as Haiku. It is amazingly similar to literature written by Internet users today.
Needless to say, people of the Edo period didn't have any hi-tech tools like PC's or computer networks to amuse themselves with; but, they did use a systematic concept that resembles the workings of today's computer software.
Again today, we are starting to use more personal media systems as opposed to mass media systems for enhancement and amusement. Many of us may think that our generation is the first to employ such systems; however, by looking back into human history we may find many other cases of media-oriented societies like the one of the Edo era. Such an overview will allow us to introduce you to the different types of the communications and networks available during the Edo period.
Let's go back and look at the city of Edo.
During the 17th century, the publication of mass media exploded world-wide. In Japan, as in Europe, mass media was developing at high speed. The design concept of books published in this period was very unique. Publications of the Edo period were a mixture of text and visuals (graphics).
It may sound strange for us to refer books of the Edo period as "multi-media". Publications of that era are regarded as old fashioned and tasteless by today's Japanese. In fact, the modern Japanese school system neglects to cover the subject of public information systems during the Edo period. It seems that contemporary Japan has forgotten the culture of its ancestors.
Let's rediscover these lost treasures together. The printing style Europe invented in 17th century mainly consisted of text. Illustrations were usually separated from the text. The printing techniques of the Edo period were completely different from that of Europe because characters were treated as an integrated part of the illustrations. Illustrations functioned not only as supplements to text but sometimes relayed more information to readers than the text did. There is an interesting similarity between computer system changes and the development of publishing techniques during the Edo period. A decade ago personal computers could only display text characters, but now display both text and graphics equally. At one point in time, we could only send or receive text through computer networks but with the advent of the Internet, and the WWW Server, fantastically colorful graphics are only a "click" away. What a wonderful influence on society this has had!
Just before the Edo period, "letterpress printing" was introduced to Japan. It was during this period, that printed material became a rapidly developing communication media. Opinion has been divided on the route through which this technology arrived.
One opinion is that in the 1400's, the letterpress printing system was brought back by Hideyoshi Toyotomi's invading army from Korea. The other is that it was brought back by the Japanese Christian missionaries which returned from Europe in the 1500's. By using this new printing method, many manuscripts were transformed into printed books.
However, most of those publications were used for political and religious purposes. Ieyasu Tokugawa, the founder of Edo Government who defeated Hideyoshi Toyotomi, published many books. He ordered the studio of Koetsu (Hon-ami), the maestro of fine arts of those days, to make various beautiful books with relatively high artistic values. Koetsu designed beautiful, original typefaces for his books. Also, Christianity started to filter into all levels of society in Japan and these Christians published numerous doctrines by letterpress printing. The Holy Bible itself however, was not published in those days. The letterpress printing presses were therefore used as a tool for exhibiting authority, propagating new religion and general enlightenment.
In Japan, the letterpress printing culture lasted only 20 years or so. Needless to say, in Europe this technique was highly developed and changed into the technique we are still using as a part of our culture. In a sense, it is still a fundamental communication media. Japanese of the Edo period had readily thrown away a very important technical skill.
Present-day Tokyo was known as Edo. It was the city in which "Shogun" (a general) Tokugawa Ieyasu installed the Bakuhu (Shogunate) as the center of government administration and politics in 1603. This city was far east of the capital Kyoto -- which had already been relieved of any actual power by Bushi (warriors whose top rank was Shogun). From that time, Kyoto existed only as a symbol of where the emperor lived in addition to Osaka, where the castle of the influential Samurai Hideyoshi had been located. Over 400 years have past since this city became the center of politics and economy. For 270 years this era was known as the Edo period. It started from 1603, with the rule of Tokugawa Bakufu , to 1868, when the Meiji era began, when the Emperor governed again. Tokugawa Ieyasu did away with the old decentralized feudal system, and established Bakufu. Bakufu system was a feudal government based on modern centralization with Edo as the center. By 1720, Edo had a population of one million and had grown into a metropolis that was larger than Paris or London. It rapidly developed both economically and culturally.
Edo was first ruled under a "closed-door" policy, which controlled and prohibited all diplomatic contacts with other countries. During this policy period, Japan developed its original culture, free from any influences of Western culture. This type of environment probably gave rise to the arts of Japanese porcelain and lacquer-ware, loved by the European upper class, and Ukiyo-e which exercised great influence on the Post-Impressionists.
This period continued from 1693 to 1853, when Admiral Perry came to demand that Japan enter into a diplomatic treaty with America. Despite this insular attitude towards the outside world, many internal changes took place. The once mighty Samurai Warrior Class lost their roles in society due to a long and prosperous peace. The merchant class of Chonin thrived economically and culturally. Kabuki, Ukiyo-e, and the Yoshiwara brothel were born and so on. Between 1790 and 1810, pop culture reached its peak. The Edo period also heralds advances in transportation, mass printing/publishing and education. The latter developed in an environment where the educational level of the general citizen was high and most of the citizens were literate.
All of these advances were possible due to the stable political climate created by a "closed society". In this way especially, Japan 's development differs greatly from that of the West.
The history of books in Japan is long. It is most certainly, shorter then that of China, the land of origin for much of Japanese culture. Around 700 A.D., the historical texts, "Kojiki", "Nihon-shoki", "Waka-shu" (old Japanese poems), "Manyo-shu" were edited as a national project. At around 1000 A.D., "Genji Monogatari", which was the first love story by a woman author, was written as a novel in addtion to"Makuranososhi", which followed immediately. These seemed to portray the essential characteristics of aristocratic culture. As books then were read among that select group of people. Records show that many different books and texts of Buddhism were mainly printed at temples, also. For example, in the Nara era (710 A.D. through 784 A.D.) we can see that block-printing was used to make various "Butten" (Buddhism texts). In Europe, "books" were primarily made by Christian autocrats and in Japan they were made by "Sou" (the autocrats of Buddhism).
The letterpress printing technique was abandoned in the Edo period and was subsequently reintroduced in the Meiji period, following a period of political stability and centralized power. The letterpress printing fell out of use but that didn't mean that all printed media disappeared. On the contrary, in the Edo period publications became very popular and highly developed. For example, more than 3,500 publishers started their business in the Edo period and a record from 1696 says that leading book sales alone, reached 7,000. Japan became a unique information-oriented society supported by publishing. A high literacy rate was one of the reasons why reading became so popular. Not only the governing classes, but also the working classes enjoyed reading. No major wars occurred during the Edo period. And its economy and politics were stable. This period of stability gave rise to extensive cultural development and public education. But the Japanese publishing sector took a different course than that of the West by choosing to use plate printing of letterpress printing.
Bookshop in Edo (From"Sharaku")
A determinative fact of the this period was that the business of publishing developed rapidly as printed materials were circulated and sold as a product, much like today. As popular education spread and the demand for leisure rose, so did the number of bookstores. In the first half of the 1600's, these shops appeared one after another in Kyoto. By the latter half of the 1600's, the number of these shops had increased to 200. These early bookstores mainly carried books that described China or classic manuscripts that had been converted into publications. Many of them selling as much as 800 copies. Compared with Kyoto, the bookstores in Osaka were more similar to modern day bookstores in that they also published tabloids on current town events. These were known as "Ukiyo-zoshi".
Bookstores first began to appear in Edo around 1650. In those days of publishing, the rights to published books were undetermined, so second-editions or similar editions were strictly banned. Therefore bookstores had to obtain their own publishing rights to stay independently active. As the culture in Edo developed and changed, the number of bookstores, which was no more than 30 in the latter 17th century, quickly increased during 18th century. While the number bookstores bloomed in response to public demand, they were brought under strict control by Bakufu (Shogunate). Nevertheless, the beginning of 19th century saw an expansion of cooperative networks dedicated to publishing and selling, nationwide.
Even though growth and prosperity of the new industry continued, the books themselves were still slightly expensive for the general public. In response to this problem, rental libraries were created. Rental libraries allowed people access to books that they normally wouldn't be able to afford. These libraries quickly expanded to about 800 or so in the Edo area. They even rented manuscripts that were prohibited! They became important sources of information for the common people.
For this question, we can see three main reasons as follows:
1. Durability of Type.
2. The Distinctive Japanese Character.
3. The Information Content of Media
Individually, these three points probably didn't have much effect, however when they were combined they eventually had a negative effect on the printing system.
Here, let's look at each point individually.
1. Durability of Type.
Generally during the Edo period ,the problem was durability of type. The publishing business developed extremely rapidly in Japan. By the 1700's, the number of items printed annually exceeded 10,000. Books that were considered "best-sellers", were sometimes issued over 1,000 times. However, it wasn't always profitable to use letterpress printing. Originally, its superiority was flexibility. By recomposing, books could be printed over and over again without making new printing plates. And if that book sold in large numbers, costs for making the original could be recovered in a relatively short period of time. Because the plates that used the same typeface were also more stable and durable than plates that were composed with more than one typeface. Periodicals such as magazines are a good example of publications which must be printed in large numbers. Letterpress printing was usually reserved for items printed in small numbers such as academic books. Japan had adopted mass media printing at an early stage in its history and the letterpress was not as financially competitive for that media.
2. The Japanese Character Culture.
Japanese characters are considered to be among the most distinct and complex forms of writing used in the world. In Japanese writing there are three types of characters. They are Hiragana, Kantakana and Kanji. For example, the word "WOOD" can described in three ways. Written Japanese is commonly a mixture of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic symbols, while Kanji are ideogramatic symbols. The general rule for using these symbols are as follows: Kanji are used for writing words (noun, adjectives, etc.) and Hiragana are used to fill in the space between words. Hiragana can also be used to alter the word form. Katakana are generally used for representing non-Japanese words, from other languages such as English, French, etc. Because Hiragana and Katakana, consist of over 40 characters, and Kanji, of more than 1500, the development of computer technology in Japan was delayed considerably, maily because whilst an alphabet could be represented with a one byte-code, Japanese characters required a more complex code. This means that displaying Japanese characters demanded larger amounts of memory. It also means that composing a plate by selecting each and every character wasn't very efficient.
But this problem relates not only to the number of pieces of type, but also, the Japanese understanding of letters. As we have already stated, the Japanese, use many "Kanji" which is descended from Chinese hieroglyphics. In this sence, the Japanese have a different view of letters than the Western peoples. The Japanese have a more complex "intuitive" recognition of letter's meaning. For example, one form of a word means "a tree",and two forms mean "woods" and three, mean "a forest". Thus, (cherry tree),…(oak tree) and…(pillar) which contain…(the same symbol) as [a] constituent element has meanings all related with "tree." Though this letter system is indeed complicated, it is very effect in intuitive information processing. At this time the Japanese have not discarded this complex notation. At present, the Japanese still approach letters from an intuitive reference, instead of a definite one. Therefore computer "icons" become very important. It is easier for the Japanese to associate graphical hieroglyphics on the computer, considering the natural tendency toward an intuitive grasp of meaning. And because of this, the Japanese seem to have a greater inclination toward characters expressed as graphics, when compared with the Western inclinations. For example, "Shodo" (calligraphy) which related characters to art. It is an intrinsic aspect of communication systems based on Chinese hieroglyphics. Thus one can readily understand that the Japanese have no problem mixing "text" and "graphics" in the same frame, and consequently such notation is intuitive to them, as they had been using this method since the earliest of literate times.
3. The Content as Information Media
It is easy to understand that, in many ways, the form of a media is determined by the content of information. We can readily understand that the representational backgrounds of that time for Japan and the West determined seperate medias for each. In the West, the time when printing media developed was the revolutionary one. Printing technology was involved with "the Reformation", "the French Revolution" and "the Industrial Revolution". The printing media was also made a tool of these revolutions: At times as a tool of propaganda or controversy, and at other times as a tool of control or suppression and at still other times of cry for freedom. As the medium of letterpress printing prescribes words and permits no ambiguity, it is very effective for these aims. There are perhaps several ways in which the Japanese printing media differed:
In Japan, during the Edo period, society was stable politically, religiously and economically, certainly the people were under various control, but they were at peace, especially when compared with the West. During this peaceful period, popular culture prospered, and publication was developed for daily living, amusement and instructional information for merchants, handicraftsman and new farmers. All kinds of novel were published as well. For example, a best-seller, "Kousyoku-ichidai-otoko" written by Saikaku and published in 1682, was an amusing novel which described a "lady-killer's" life, very much like Casanova, as based on a story from the classic "Genji-monogatari". Indeed, this novel had served as a guide for information about brothels as well as amusing reading. And most of the Ukiyo-e, which influenced Impressionism in Europe later, were made as popular media which were consumed in daily life. For example "Sharaku" (See example) as theater-guide of "Kabuki" and "Beauty" by "Utamaro" as a "pin-up" book very like the present-day "Playboy" or a pinup calendar. The people demanded modern public media which supplied such clear information, along with pleasurable content, and not of a prescribed sort. Probably, as the result of this, visualized representation and printing technique enabled a mixing of text and graphics.
Advertisement ("Hikifuda" and "Kawaraban")
In the Edo period, various types of advertising methods were invented thanks to the development of a trade business that was fueled by a free monetary economy. Billboards and "Noren" (a curtain with the shop's name printed on it, usually hung just above the shop's entrance) were used as a permanent advertisement tool even before the Edo period, but "Hikifuda" and "Kawaraban" became popular as temporary advertisement tools during the Edo period.
"Hikifuda" was a wooden plate that was distributed to consumers to announce the opening of new shops or special bargain sales. In Osaka and Kyoto, it was called "Chirashi" and it functioned as a type of flyer that was included in newspapers of the time. In those days, the business of advertising was diversified and a free economy strongly promoted advertisement sales. "Hikifuda" was the most effective advertising tool for reaching the largest number of consumers. "Kawaraban", another information tool, was called "Yomiuri" in the old days of Edo. Used as a kind of a news bulletin, it carried headline news flashes and was distributed as an special edition by newspapers of that period. The earliest issue was published in 1615 with the headline "Osaka Abe No Kassen No Zu", reporting on Ieyasu Tokugawa, who established the Edo government. Compared to the "Hikifuda," "Kawaraban" was more news-oriented.
Both communication tools were supported by the culture and life-style of people living in big cities like Edo. Without an information-oriented city like Edo, tools such as "Hikifuda" or "Kawaraban" probably wouldn't have been invented.
As a final example of the function of books during the Edo period let's look at:
TOHKAIDOCYU HIZAKURIGE"
Sight-seeing Information (Travel Guidebook)
In order for people to travel without restrictions, a country must be peaceful and politically stable with no worry of war or invasion from other countries. The fact that traveling was very popular during the Edo period tends to show that this era was very peaceful and politically stable. During the development of the city of Edo, large numbers of people visited the city from around the country. The city of Edo prepared many sight-seeing tours for all visitors, regardless of class. In those days, not only Edo, but other areas in Japan had famous sight-seeing spots and historical sites. The most famous sight-seeing areas were located around temples and shrines. In Edo, Asakusa temple was one of the typical spots for sightseeing.
In Shikoku, the famous shrine of Ise and Konpira temple were very popular. Best-selling books served to heighten and enhance this traveling fever. One of those books was called the "Tohkaidochu Hizakurige" (See above) by Juppensha Ikku. This story tells about the travel of two men and their funny mistakes, unique customs and local dialects that they came across during the course of their travel. Also books about travel and travel guides like "EDO MEISHO ZUKAI" (Edo sight-seeing guide) and "MIYAKO MEISHO ZUKAI" (Capitol sight-seeing guide) accelerated the travel boom of this period.
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