Rental bookstore - Kashihonya

A bookstore that rents out books for a fee. From the Kan'ei period (1624-1644) of the Edo period, book peddlers appeared and also did book rentals. Around the Genroku period (1688-1704), those who specialized in book rentals appeared and gradually increased in number. According to records from 1808 (Bunka 5), ​​there were 12 book rental associations in Edo, including Nihonbashi Minami-gumi, Honmachi-gumi, and Kanda-gumi, with a total of 656 members. At that time, it is said that there were 300 book rental dealers in Osaka. They also appeared everywhere, such as in castle towns, rural towns, and hot spring resorts. The books handled by book rental dealers were mainly novels and military books, and the works of Kyokutei Bakin and Tamenaga Shunsui gained many readers through book rental dealers. The inspection fee is difficult to generalize, but for new books, it is about one-sixth of the selling price after 15 days. Many rental bookstores were small businesses, but some, such as Ohnoya Sohachi in Nagoya, had rental books of over 20,000 copies.

The book rental business continued to thrive even in the Meiji era, and made a great contribution to the reading of ordinary people. In addition, rental bookstores that offered academic books and reference books to students also appeared, but these were replaced by the spread of public libraries. Although rental bookstores that catered to ordinary people changed their style from carrying dozens of books on their backs and visiting customers' houses to lending books at their stores, they continued to exist without interruption, and especially after World War II, they played a major role in the development of postwar popular culture by offering rental books for comic books and popular novels.

[Yozo Imada]

"Research on Early Modern Rental Bookshops" by Nagatomo Chiyoji (1982, Tokyodo Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

書物を見料をとって貸す本屋。江戸時代の寛永(かんえい)（1624～44）のころから書物の行商人が現れ、貸本も兼業した。元禄(げんろく)（1688～1704）のころには貸本専業の者も出現、漸次増加した。1808年（文化5）の記録によると、江戸に日本橋南組・本町組・神田組など12組の貸本屋組合があり、合計656人が加入していた。当時、大坂には300人の貸本屋がいたと伝えられる。また地方城下町、在郷町、温泉場など至る所に現れた。貸本屋が扱った書物は小説、軍書の類が主で、曲亭馬琴(ばきん)、為永春水(ためながしゅんすい)らの作品は貸本屋を通じて多くの読者を得た。見料は、一概にはいえないが、新刊本の場合15日間で売り値の6分の1ほど。貸本屋は多く零細な営業であったが、なかには名古屋の大野屋惣八(そうはち)のように2万部以上の貸本をもつ業者もいた。

　貸本業は明治に入っても盛んで、庶民の読書に大きく貢献した。また、学生相手の学術書・参考書の貸本屋も現れたが、これは公共図書館の普及にとってかわられた。庶民相手の貸本屋は、これまで貸本を何十冊と背負って顧客の家を回って歩く形式であったのが、店頭貸出しになるという変化があったとはいえ、絶えることなく続き、とくに第二次世界大戦後は漫画本、大衆小説を貸本として、戦後大衆文化の展開に大きな役割を果たした。

［今田洋三］

『長友千代治著『近世貸本屋の研究』（1982・東京堂出版）』

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