Stationery - Bunbougu

The utensils for a study (bunbou). Also called stationery. In the narrow sense, it refers to the items on or around a desk, but in the broad sense, it includes all the tools necessary for study life.

In ancient China, stationery included brushes, inkstones, ink, paper, brush cleaners, brush holders, brush racks, water droppers, ink stands, paperweights, seal materials, ink, knives, and awls, as well as pet items such as koto, folding screens, paintings and calligraphy, pottery, jade, and copperware. Since the Song Dynasty, inkstones, brushes, ink, and paper have been referred to as the "Four Treasures of the Study" or the "Four Friends," and masterpieces of each have been highly valued.

It is said that the Goryeo monk Doncho introduced the art of making paper and ink to Japan, and since ancient times, inkstone cases, ink droppers, and brushes have been highly valued as ceremonial and official tools in addition to practical use. However, after the Meiji period, when Western culture was imported, stationery, such as Western paper, writing implements, and office supplies, became more widely used as practical items. As a result, stationery stores, which previously only sold tools for study use, began to sell a wide range of items, including school supplies, office supplies, drafting supplies, household paper products, and design supplies. In recent years, in the category of school supplies, character stationery (designed with characters) and pencil cases have become toys, with ingenious structures, and in the category of office supplies, the emergence of small personal calculators due to mechanization has significantly expanded the scope of what is called stationery.

Today's stationery can be broadly classified into several thousand types: (1) writing supplies such as fountain pens, ballpoint pens, and pencils; (2) writing-related supplies such as ink, erasers, and pen cases; (3) paper products such as notebooks, ledgers, letter paper, envelopes, and albums; (4) art supplies; (5) calligraphy supplies; (6) design supplies used for drawing designs; (7) drafting and measuring supplies such as rulers and drafting instruments; (8) organizing supplies such as glue, adhesives, thumb tacks, tape, and various files; (9) printing supplies such as ink pads, checkwriters, and numbering; and (10) calculation supplies such as abacus and calculators.

In general, office machinery (such as desks and bookshelves, large computers, copiers, printers, etc.) are not included in stationery, and small items used primarily for office work in companies, government offices, stores, etc. are also called office supplies, separate from stationery.

[Matsuo Nozawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

書斎（文房）に備える器物。文具ともいう。狭義には、机上やその周りに備える物をいうが、広義には文房生活に必要な用具すべてを含む。

　古代中国では、筆、硯(すずり)、墨、紙、筆洗(ひっせん)、筆筒(ひっとう)、筆架、水滴、墨台、文鎮(ぶんちん)、印材、印泥(いんでい)、刀子(とうす)、錐(きり)などの類のほか、文房に置く琴、屏風(びょうぶ)、書画、陶器、玉器、銅器などの愛玩(あいがん)品までも含んで文房具といった。宋(そう)代以降は硯、筆、墨、紙をとくに「文房四宝」とか「四友(しゆう)」と称して、それぞれの名品をたいせつにしてきた。

　日本では、高麗(こうらい)の僧曇徴(どんちょう)が紙や墨をつくることを伝えたといわれ、古くから実用のほかに儀式や官府の用具として、硯箱、水滴、筆などが珍重された。しかし、明治以後西洋文化が輸入されてのちは、欧米の紙類、筆記具類、事務用品など、どちらかというと実用品としての文房具が一般に普及した。それに伴って文房具店も、従来書斎で用いる用具にとどまっていたものが、広く学童用品、事務用品、製図用品、家庭用紙製品、デザイン用品などを含めた広範囲のものを扱うようになった。最近では、学習文房具の範疇(はんちゅう)ではキャラクター文具（意匠にキャラクターを施したもの）や筆箱などにみられるような、構造にくふうを凝らした、いわば玩具的文房具が現れており、また事務用品では機械化に伴うパーソナルな小型電卓の出現など、文房具といわれるものの範囲がかなり広がってきている。

　現在の文房具を大別すると、〔1〕万年筆、ボールペン、鉛筆などの筆記用品、〔2〕インキ、字消し、筆入れなどの筆記関連用品、〔3〕ノート、帳簿、便箋(びんせん)、封筒、アルバムなどの紙製品、〔4〕画材用品、〔5〕書道用品、〔6〕デザインを描くのに用いるデザイン用品、〔7〕定規や製図器などの製図測定用品、〔8〕糊(のり)、接着剤をはじめ画鋲(がびょう)、テープ類、各種ファイルなどの整理用品、〔9〕スタンプ台、チェックライター、ナンバリングなどの印字用品、〔10〕そろばん、電卓などの計算用品、などに分類することができるが、その種類は数千に及ぶといわれる。

　また、一般には、事務用機械類（机や書架などの什器(じゅうき)類、大型計算機、複写機、印刷機など）は文房具に含めず、会社や官庁、商店などで主として事務に用いる小物類も、文房具とは別に事務用品とよんでいる。

［野沢松男］

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