Black book/Blue book

Japanese: 黒本･青本 - くろほんあおほん

A type of early kusazoshi published in Edo. It appeared after the akahon, and the format is almost the same as the akahon. It is typically five pages long, with an illustration on each page and hiragana text written in the margins. A volume consists of two or three volumes, or occasionally five to ten volumes. The kurohon has a black cover, while the aohon has a straw-green cover that is probably fading light green, and has a more elaborately designed picture label affixed to it. The content of the two is almost the same, and includes illustrated explanations of joruri puppet theatre, heroic biographies, tales of monsters, tales of strange creatures, and sometimes contemporary terminology. The same work can have both formats.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

江戸で刊行された初期草双紙の一類。赤本に次いで現れ，体裁もほぼ踏襲している。中本型5丁が定型で毎丁に挿絵，その余白に平仮名本文を記す。上下または上中下，まれに5～10冊で1編を構成する。黒本は黒色表紙，青本はおそらく萌黄色退色の藁色表紙で，意匠のやや進んだ絵題簽（だいせん）を貼付する。内容は2者ほとんど同じで，浄瑠璃の絵解き，英雄一代記，化物話，異類談等，ときに当世風用語も交える。同一作品で両様の体裁もある。

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

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