Tōkaidōchū hizakurige: popular work, or fruit of a well-planned commercial strategy? An inquiry from a sociological perspective

• Authors: Mario Talamo
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The Tōkaidōchū hizakurige is one of the most renowned and celebrated works of the entire Edo period; it was composed by Jippensha Ikku (1765-1831) and delivered by Murataya Jirōbee from the second year of Kyōwa (1802) to the sixth of Bunka (1809). It was so successful that it constituted the main source of income for both the publisher and the author. That kind of popularity could have hardly been achieved without a well-planned editorial strategy. During the publication the work changed; it is therefore possible to outline an evolution within Ikku’s masterpiece which from the first volume goes straight to the eighth and last installment. My aim is to analyze those changes by connecting them with society and selling strategies of the publishing sector. I intend to outline the ways in which the author and the publisher arranged their work in order to enlarge the size of readership and address their production to a specific audience. It is my intention to examine the original edition of the Hizakurige and its reprint, which was published during the second year of Bunkyū (1862).

Keywords

EN

Jippensha Ikku; Tōkaidōchū hizakurige; Edo period; Selling Strategies; Sociological Inquiry

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 26
• Pages: 7-23

Contributors

author

Mario Talamo

• University of Naples "The Oriental"