History of Manga, 1500-1600 AD
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Kamishibai and e-maki
E-maki continues to be used for story telling in Buddhist temples.
Woodblock printing, or hanga, had pretty much stagnated as a technology from its introduction from China in the 700's. In 1542, Portugal began actively trading with Japan, and Jesuit priests in Nagasaki set up their own moveable type printing press in 1590; but the texts were still religious in nature and were in Portuguese. Printing as a whole wasn't going anywhere. Then, Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea and his army returned with equipment for the Korean press in 1593. 4 years later, Tokugawa Ieyasu instituted the first native movable type press, which employed 100,000 wooden type-pieces. This led to the production of political and historical texts, and an increase in literacy among the general population. From this point, Japanese printed texts could more easily be reproduced.