Typesetting in Japan from the late 16th to the second half of the 19th century: Unsolved mysteries and controversial issues

One of the main features of Japanese book publishing in the Edo period is that books were published using woodblock printing. However, at the beginning of the period, from the end of the 16th century to the mid-1620s, movable type printing prevailed, and, over the next quarter of a century, movable type printing, although losing its leading position, still made up a significant share of books. From the second half of the 17th century, large publishing projects based on movable type printing were no longer undertaken, but private individuals, clan and private schools continued to publish small-circulation literature in this way. Japan became acquainted with movable type in the 1590s, when the Jesuit Mission began publishing books using the European technology invented by Gutenberg, and Korean movable type was brought from the Korean campaign undertaken by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, on the basis of which the first Japanese movable typefaces were made. In the early years of the spread of book printing, the emperors Goyôzei and Gomizunoo, Tokugawa Ieyasu, representatives of the court nobility and high samurai, and Buddhist temples were involved in publishing. Books were also published by private individuals, including the physicians Oze Hoan, Manase Gensaku, Isokawa Ryôan, and the wealthy merchant Suminokura Soan. Many achievements in book printing came into sight with movable type printing: secular books were published for the first time, as well as books in Japanese, Japanese classics, works of new Japanese literature. This period of book printing has long been actively studied both in Japan and abroad, and yet many mysteries associated with it remain. There are also a number of controversial issues that researchers constantly return to. The period of typesetting showed the great potential of this technology, but nevertheless it almost completely gave way to woodcut printing. The main reason for this is the convenience of woodblock printing for commercial book printing, but many other arguments are also given by scholars. The influence of Korean book printing on Japanese one is easy to trace, but the influence (or lack of the influence) of European technology is a controversial issue, which has recently received much attention from book historians.

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