Japanese Words

As a rule, Japanese words are accompanied by their corresponding logographic character and an English translation when they first appear in a chapter. Authors may use slightly different characters for the same word, as accepted in Japanese-language scholarship.

Personal Names

Japanese personal names appear in the Japanese order, with the family name first, except for scholars who publish in English. On their first occurrence in each chapter, names of early modern and modern figures are accompanied by their Japanese characters and, where possible, by dates. Dates are not provided for early modern publishers, as they are often unknown.

It is common practice to refer to early modern Japanese authors and illustrators by their given name or pseudonym. Santō Kyōden, for instance, is abbreviated as Kyōden rather than Santō. When dealing with names that refer to multiple generations, we have applied the following convention: Bandō Mitsugorō III 坂東三津五郎三代 (based on The Actors’ Analects, edited and translated by Charles J. Dunn and Bunzō Torigoe, Columbia University Press, 1969). This also applies to names of authors and illustrators where necessary. As per convention, we do not put a numeral after the first of a succession of artists bearing the same name. As a rule, no Japanese script is provided for the names of the protagonists, fictional or otherwise, of the early modern narratives that the chapters explore.

Titles

Early modern Japanese titles are transliterated and, on their first occurrence in each chapter, are accompanied by their Japanese characters and by a literal English translation. These translations are for reference only and should not be considered definitive or authoritative. Subsequently only the Japanese title (in its entirety or abbreviated) is used. We recognize that this may be a challenge for the reader with little or no knowledge of Japanese, but it enables the student of early modern Japan to easily trace down the primary sources.

Titles of early modern Japanese graphic narratives are notoriously complex. They often come with a main title and with a preceding “surtitle” (tsunogaki 角書). The full title, inclusive of surtitle, is provided in the references only. The division between surtitle and main title is shown by a colon in the transliteration and by a slash in the Japanese script. If the surtitle contains the word shinpan, we have included it. It should be noted that in most cases shinpan identifies the books as “new publications” not as “new editions.”

As a rule, the titles of primary sources are based on the authoritative Union Catalogue Database of Japanese Texts (former Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books Database), run by the National Institute of Japanese Literature.¹ The entries in this catalogue might be slightly different from what appears in the title slips of the originals. Where possible we have endeavored to check the originals and retain what is in there. Some contributors use different titles based on their own research.

Contributors have made use of a variety of formats: originals from archives, (semi) diplomatic transcriptions without annotations, and/or modern critical editions with annotations. In the references at the end of each chapter the reader will find a clear indication of the formats that were accessed.

Lexicon

The reader will find some technical terms, most of which are explained in the introduction. Vocabulary related to early modern Japanese graphic narratives is consistent as follows: kusazōshi 草双紙 (word explained but left untranslated); akahon 赤本: red [cover] books; kurohon 黒本: black [cover] books; aohon 青本: light-green [cover] books; kibyōshi 黄表紙: yellow-cover books; gōkan: combined booklets. Specific parts of gōkan are translated as below: kan 巻: booklet; satsu 冊: volume; hen 編: Part.

Notes and References

The notes contain only abbreviated bibliographic information for both primary and secondary sources. Editors’ notes have been added where deemed necessary. They are generally signaled by appending “—Ed.” at the end of the note. All page citations of the primary sources accessed in the original format consist of the number of the folio plus r (recto) or v (verso) (e.g., 2v–3r). For kusazōshi we do not specify the volume number, because the pagination is continuous. The only exception is for long gōkan, for which the Part number is provided before the pagination. This also applies when using microfilms, photographic reproductions, or facsimile editions. For (semi) diplomatic transcriptions and critical editions, the reference is to the page number of the modern edition.

References are appended at the end of each chapter. We have divided them into primary and secondary sources. Inevitably some sources are mentioned in multiple chapters. Contributors might have used different formats, as dutifully recorded. The references of primary sources specify the author and the illustrator, unless only the author is known.

The titles that are only mentioned in passing in the body of a chapter are not included in note but appear in the references, with rare exceptions that have been carefully signaled.