V.　Information on Commerce (Part 1) Destination: Tori 1-Chome in the Middle of the Edo Period

In the essay titled Nihonbashi Fukin [Near Nihonbashi] written by Tayama Katai, a bookstore Maruzen is mentioned. Maruzen started business in 1868 under the banner of introducing Western culture, and opened its Nihonbashi store in Tori 3-Chome (presently Nihonbashi 2-Chome) facing the main street (Chuo-dori Street) in the following year. It dealt in not only Japanese and Western books but also a wide variety of sundry goods from foreign countries, and a large number of intellectuals visited there at that time. Though the store changed its appearance from a storehouse with earthen walls to a modern building, it is doing business still now in the same location as when the company was established.

Katai had worked for a publishing company called Hakubunkan, located in Honcho 3-Chome (presently near Nihonbashi Honcho 3-Chome) since 1899. He often visited Maruzen crossing the Nihonbashi bridge from his workplace and met various kinds of foreign literature on the shelves there.

In the mention, he explains some episodes conveying his excitement to those who read them; that is, he found  L’Éducation sentimentale by Gustave Flaubert among educational books, he dug out Dostoyevsky’s anthology of short stories from the shelf of geography books, and he received word that Maupassant’s novel I had ordered arrived and so walked down the unharmonious main street, lined with storehouses with earthen-walls and Western-style buildings standing at random, to the bookstore, soaking wet from the early summer rain. And he ends the mention as follows:

〈Irrespective of whether it is naturalism, decadence, humanism, or neo romanticism, the fact that all of them have entered via the gate of one bookstore makes me feel curious now. In this context, it would be fair to say that there is a deep connection between the main street of Nihonbashi and me…〉

The reason that he says, “There is a deep connection between the main street of Nihonbashi and me,” with a deep feeling may be because his memories during his childhood overlap with the main street. Dating back to 1881, Katai left Tochigi Prefecture, his hometown, at the age of only nine, and was apprenticed to a bookstore Yurindo Shoten specialized in agronomic books, which was located in Minami-Denma-cho of Kyobashi-ku, for around a year. He walked around Kyobashi and Nihonbashi with many books on his back to go around the bookstore’s customers every day. He sometimes walked door to door visiting bookstores on the main street with a notebook on which titles of books he wanted were listed.

What connected and Katai with the main street of Nihonbashi deeply were bookstores both as a child and as an adult. Though it may be difficult to imagine from the current scenery, many bookstores gathered along this main street in the past. So, let’s discover the history of this area and books by focusing on one bookstore that emerged in the Edo period.

According to Tokyo Eigyo Binran [Guide to Businesses in Tokyo] published in 1900 (by Hakuhodo), there are 12 bookstores on each side of the main street on the area from Tori 1-Chome to 4-Chome. In addition, there are some stores of book-related businesses, such as woodblock printing for books and paper wholesale. As Tori 1-Chome to 4-Chome is the area from the present-day Nihonbashi bridge to the Nihonbashi 3-Chome intersection where the Chuo-dori Street and the Yaesu-dori Street intersect, the distance is less than 10 minutes’ walk. So, why did bookstores gather there? Before exploring the answer, I would like to touch on the history of bookstores briefly first of all.

It was the early modern period when bookstores emerged to offer books to a wide range of people. Until the medieval period, a limited segment of the population, such as authorities, temples and shrines had been engaged in publishing and readers had been also limited. As an era of peace was brought and people’s intellectual appetite grew, commercial publishing made a sudden rise. At the same time, technical innovation brought about the shift from traditional movable type printing-press to woodblock printing by carving a wooden block, which enabled mass production of books.

Speaking of bookstores, they generally refer to business of selling new books as merchandize today. In the Edo period, however, bookstores sold not only new books but also old ones to meet customers’ needs. And the most important difference from now is that bookstores engaged themselves in all the matters related to books from planning and creation of books to sales and management of woodblocks. Bookstores were also publishers and agencies. Of course, there were related businesses that were not engaged in publishing around them, such as stores that only procured books from partner bookstores and sold them, called Uriko or Seriko, and book lenders.

Bookstores were called variously Shoshi, Shorin, Mono-no-Honya, Shomotsuya, and Shomotsu-doiya. Such bookstores mainly dealt in hardcover buddhist scriptures, dictionaries, and academic books, but in the middle of the Edo period, popular recreational books called Kusazoshi increased, including picture books for children and illustrated reading materials, and bookstores that dealt in such books were differentiated by being called Soshiya, Joruri-honya, and Jihon-doiya.

Kyoto was the first place where commercial publishing grew. A bit later than Kyoto, commercial publishing came to bloom also in Edo around between 1655–1658, when bookstores that advanced into Edo from Kyoto and Osaka (Kamigata) took a central role. Many of those bookstores located their sites in and around Nihonbashi, the starting point of the Tokaido Road connecting with Kyoto and Osaka. Around between 1688–1704, however, bookstores emerging from Edo became competitive. The pioneer of those bookstores was Suwara-ya Mohē, who opened a store in Tori 1-Chome and grew it to become one of the leading bookstores in Edo.

It is said that the founder Suwara-ya Mohē (his real name was Kitabatake Munemoto) moved from Suhara Villege, the Arita District of Kii Province (presently Suhara, Yuasa-cho, Arita-gun, Wakayama Prefecture) to Edo between 1658–1661 and opened a bookstore in the south area of Nihonbashi. The name Suwara-ya was derived from his home village, and the trade name was Senshobo. According to Edo Soganoko [Full Regional Geography of Edo] published in 1689, Suwara-ya is listed as a bookstore located on the alley of Sanai-cho (presently near the Edobashi 1-Chome intersection), however, it is said to have moved to Tori 1-Chome by the end of Genroku Era (1688–1704). It should be noted here that the history of Suwara-ya I describe owes much to Edo no Honya-san [Bookstores in Edo] written by Imada Yozo.

When Suwara-ya opened their store in Tori 1-Chome, an autonomous organization Kou, which was the predecessor of the guild of bookstores called Honya Nakama (literally bookstores’ association), was formed in Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo, three major cities. It is not known when Kou was formed in Edo, but it is said that there were two bookstore organizations called Torimachi-gumi  and Nakamachi-gumi by the end of the Genroku era.

The reason for the organization of Kou was that a copy or a partially modified version of a previously published book (Ruihan) and unauthorized publication of the same book as an already published book by another bookseller (Juhan) became rampant following the growth of commercial publishing; therefore, it was necessary to solve these problems. In 1721 when the shogunate government approved the establishment of Nakama (association) officially, Honya-Nakama (a publisher association) was formally established, and publishing provisions were issued in the following year, which would be the basic rules for publishing afterward.

To briefly explain, the rights of Honya-Nakama were to carve woodblocks for new publication (called Kaihan) and distribute it. For Kaihan, permission from a magistrate’s office (Bugyosho) was required, and as a step prior to seek the permission, a referee elected in Honya-Nakama checks the Kaiban. When the publication was successfully permitted, the bookstore which put out the publication owned the publishing right (Itakabu), and it could retain the publishing rights unless it sold the woodblock. There were quite a few private publications that were published not via bookstores, but to get a publication into the distribution network, it has to go through a bookstore.

Let’s get back to Suwara-ya. While many of the bookstores in Torimachi-gumi were located facing the main street of Nihonbashi, those in Nakadori-gumi were mainly located in Yorozucho and Aomono-cho (both presently around Nihonbashi 1-Chome). (Edo Shoseki Shoshi [History of Book Commerce in the Edo Period] by Uezato Haruo). In each of Torimachi-gumi and Nakadori-gumi, a bookstore moved from Kamigata was appointed as a referee, and so the Edo-founded bookstores, which were latecomers, were at a disadvantage. I wonder this situation might urged Suwara-ya Mohē to open a bookstore in Tori 1-Chome. As Suwara-ya was originally located on the alley in Sanai-cho, it belonged to Nakadori-gumi. When comparing Torimachi-gumi facing the main street and Nakadori-gumi that was slightly distant from it, I think it is more likely that Torimachi-gumi should have been regarded higher. If so, it is no surprise that the founder Mohē strongly desired to open a bookstore in the prime location Tori 1-Chome by any means.

Countering the Kamigata-founded bookstores’ group came to the surface in the form of a withdrawal from Torimachi-gumi. In 1727, Suwara-ya withdrew from Torimachi-gumi together with other eight bookstores and newly formed an organization Minami-gumi with Edo-founded bookstores. After that, Suwara-ya was a longtime referee of Minami-gumi. In 1750, Minami-gumi came into conflict with Torimachi-gumi and Nakadori-gumi over the handling of previously published books (Ruihan). After all, Minami-gumi’s claim was not accepted, but some bookstores in Torimachi-gumi and Nakadori-gumi joined with Minami-gumi. Konta Yozo says in Edo no Honya-san [Bookstores in Edo] mentioned above that this conflict triggered the rapid development of Minami-gumi. Edo-founded bookstores became competitive enough to compete with Kamigata-founded bookstores, and the competition between them worked for the vitalization of the market.

In forming Minami-gumi, the central role was played by Suwara-ya Mohē the Third (Jigen). Since there is no record about Suwara-ya Mohē the Second, he is believed to have passed away suddenly. The third generation of Suwara-ya Mohē, Jigen, who succeeded to the first generation, was keen on purchasing the publishing right (Itakabu) of Bukan, and therefore he is said to have been widely recognized as a person who popularized the name Suwara-ya when it came to Bukan.

Bukan is a guide to samurai houses, compiling the name, family crest, Kokudaka (a system for determining land value for tribute purposes in the Edo period), residential area in Edo of samurai with a title. It was used as a basic material for social intercourse among samurai living in Edo or as a source of business information for merchants dealing with them. In addition, it was also used by low-raking samurai as a souvenir of Edo. As Bukan is fun to look at even today because utensils for Daimyo Gyoretsu (feudal lord’s processions) and others are featured along with illustrations, it must have been even more so for the people of that time.

Suwara-ya embarked on the publishing of Bukan at the time of Mohē the First, and the one he published for the first time was Taihei Bukan in 1689. Originally, various bookstores had published Bukan, but soon Suwara-ya and Kyoto-founded Izumoji became two major publishers of Bukan. Both publishes competed with each other over publication for more than 100 years after 1759, the details of which are written in Edo no Buke Meikan [Directories of Samurai Houses in Edo] by Fujizane Kumiko.

There were many Senryu (satirical haiku) expressing the connection between Suwara-ya and Bukan, and one of them says, Yoshiwara wa Juzabu Mohē wa Marunouchi (Publication about Yoshiwara is by Tsutaya Juzaburo and publication about Marunouchi is by Mohē).

Yoshiwara wa Juzabu referred to Tsutaya Juzaburo, who ran Jihon Doiya (a bookstore publishing books in Edo) that started business in Yoshiwara and earned a reputation by publishing Yoshiwara Saiken, a guide to Yoshiwara, a red-light district. He also dealt in ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints) created by Kitagawa Utamaro and Toshusai Sharaku and Sharebon (a gay-quarter novelette) by Santo Kyoden, becoming a hot topic of conversation. Tsutaya Books was named after him, so many people may know the name. On the other hand, Mohē wa Marunouchi meant that readers of Bukan were Daimyo (Japanese feudal lords) and Hatamoto (direct retainers of the shogun). The Senryu plainly expresses the polarity of the two major bookstores in the Edo period, that is, one publishes guides to Yoshiwara and the other publishes guides to samurai houses.

Suwara-ya dealt in not only Bukan but also many books of public interest, such as picture maps of Edo and textbooks for the Chinese classics. The founder focused on solid contents that were not influenced by trends and opened a bookstore in the prime location to win the public trust, then his successor took over the business and took on a challenge. Thus, Suwara-ya had been in business located in Nihonbashi 1-Chome for nine generations until it closed down in 1904, marking more than 200 years of history. （To be continued in Part 2）

References:
Study on Townspeople in Edo, Vol. 3 (1973) edited by Matsunosuke Nishiyama, et al., Yoshikawa Kobunkan
Bookstores in Edo (1977) Yozo Konta, NHK Books
Publishing in the Edo Period and People Yayoshi Mitsunaga Writings 3 (1980) Mitsunaga Yayoshi, Nichigai Associates, Inc.
Encyclopedia of Specialties in Edo with Satirical Haiku (1994) Kazuo Hanasaki, Miki Shobo
Record on the Prosperity of Great Tokyo: Downtown Part (1998) Akutagawa Ryunosuke, et.al., Heibonsha Library
Thirty Years of Tokyo (1998) Tayama Katai, Kodansha Bungei Bunko
Directories of Samurai Houses in Edo: Guides to Samurai Houses and Competition over Publishing (2008) Kumiko Fujizane, Yoshikawa Kobunkan
Bookstores in Edo and Bookmaking [Cont.] Introduction to Japanese Books (2011) Konosuke Hashiguchi, Heibonsha Library
History of Book Commerce in the Edo Period (2012) Haruo Uezato, Meicho Kankokai (first edition was published by the Times in 1930.)