Edo Reading Book

...However, his position as the leader of the post-Reformation fiction world, which was dominated by townspeople, remained unchanged, and he wrote many kibyō novels, but many of them were didactic and argumentative.He eventually adapted to the fashions of the time, and from around 1804 (Bunka 1) he began writing stories of revenge, and became active as a writer of gokan (combined volumes). On the other hand, in 1799 (Kansei 11), he showed a new approach to Edo reading books by combining Chinese literature and Japanese drama with his work "Chūshin Suikoden," and thereafter wrote other reading books, such as "Asaka-no-numa" (1803), "Sakurahime Zenden Akebono-soshi" (1805), and "Mukashi-gatari Inazuma Cover" (1806), which were richly decorated with ancient legends and Kabuki Joruri. However, he did not thoroughly implement the idea of ​​exhortation and punishment, and he lacked the preparation for a tightly-knit long-form structure, so in the end, with his last work "Sōchō-ki" (1813), he was defeated in the rivalry with Kyokutei Bakin over reading books. However, from the end of the Kansei era, he aspired to practical learning and found his true talent in essays on the culture, customs, and people of the early modern period. He first published Thoughts on Miracles of the Early Modern Period (1804), and then devoted himself to completing A Collection of Antiques (1814-15), which he left unfinished.

*Some of the terminology used in "Edo Dokushohon" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…しかし町人作者を主勢力とする改革後の戯作界の主導者たる地位は動かず，黄表紙も多く書いたが，教訓的で理屈ばった内容のものが多く，やがて時の流行にも順応して，1804年(文化1)ごろからは仇討物なども書き出し，合巻の作者として活躍することになった。　いっぽう1799年(寛政11)には《忠臣水滸伝》によって，中国文学と日本演劇とをとり合わせるという江戸読本の新しいいきかたを示し，以後《安積沼（あさかのぬま）》(1803)，《桜姫全伝曙草紙》(1805)，《昔話（むかしがたり）稲妻表紙》(1806)など，古伝説や歌舞伎浄瑠璃などではなやかに彩られた読本も書いたが，勧懲思想も徹底せず，緊密な長編構成の用意にも欠けるところがあって，結局《双蝶記》(1813)を最後に，読本における曲亭馬琴との抗争にも敗れ去った。ただ寛政末ごろから実学に志して，近世初期の文化･風俗･人物等に関する考証随筆に自己の本領を見いだし，《近世奇跡考》(1804)をまず世に問い，さらに《骨董集（こつとうしゆう）》(1814‐15)の完成に全力を傾注したが未完に終わった。…

※「江戸読本」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報