History of Manga, 1600-1700 AD

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   Kamishibai and e-maki
   Hanga
   Newspapers

Kamishibai and e-maki

Under construction.

Hanga

New classes of merchants and artists began to form, and people became interested in writing their own stories and producing their own paintings.  This led to the rise of "e-hon", or "picture books", which featured both text and illustrations.  An early example was the Tales of Ise, a collection of Tanka poems by Hon'ami Koetsu, in 1608 (from wikipedia).  At the same time, the illustrations, which took the form of "ukiyo-e" (pictures of the floating world), were used within the e-hon.  But, it wasn't until the ukiyo-e pictures started showing up on postcards and posters some years later that it became an art style in its own right.  The Edo period for ukiyo-e starts in 1620. Topics included the pleasure quarters in Edo (old Tokyo), landscapes, geisha and kabuki actors.  Many of the ukiyo-e prints were used for advertising kabuki theaters, as well as for guide books.  Fairly early, ukiyo-e took on an assembly line-like approach, with one artist drawing the picture, a second group carving the individual blocks, and a third making the prints, with one block per ink or tone.

We can now draw a distinction between books and picture scrolls.  "Kusazoshi", another form of e-hon, combined illustrations with text.  It started out as a single sheet of paper, about B4 size, folded and then bound.  Within kusazoshi, there was akahon (red book), aohon (blue book) and kurohon (black book).  Akahon tended to be aimed at children, and the pictures were more important than the text.

From the Hanga entry.

Newspapers

With the introduction of a wooden moveable type press, it became possible to mass-produce newspapers, i.e. - "yomiuri" (to read and sell).  At this stage, newspapers took two forms - a 1 or 2 sheet government announcement list, and handbills for advertising social events and gatherings (kawaraban).  The modern concepts of "newspaper" and "magazine" wouldn't surface in Japan for another 150 years.

Early handbill, printed from clay tablets ("kawaraban"), from the wiki entry, used for review purposes only.