sharebon　洒落本

KEY WORD :　 art history / paintings

Also konnyakubon 蒟蒻本 or kohon 小本 (typically made of folded half-sized *hanshi 半紙 paper with from 20 to 40 folded folios). Lit. witty book. A type of Edo period novel which dealt with the activities of the pleasure quarters. The book was written with a narrative that unfolds in a loose succession of dialogue sketches in realistic colloquial language. The protagonist of the sharebon was the *tsuu 通 or toorimono 通り者, that is, the sophisticated man-about-town who is well-informed about the pleasure quarters and the latest fashions. Authors of sharebon were concerned with the minute details of the quarter, its fashions, customs, and manners. This demonstration of mastery of detail which only an insider would have known was called ugachi 穿ち (piercing). The prototypes of the sharebon, which appeared in the 1750s, were guidebooks to the pleasure quarters. The structural and stylistic pattern of the sharebon became fixed in around 1770 with the publication of YUUSHI HOUGEN 遊子方言 by Inaka-roujin Tada-no-jijii 田舎老人多田爺意. Sharebon reached its peak as a genre in the 1770s-80s. Representative authors include Oota Nanpo 太田南畝 (alias Yamanote no Bakabito 山手馬鹿人; 1749-1823), Houraisanjin Kikyou 蓬来山人帰橋 (dates unknown), Tanishi Kingyo 田螺金魚 (dates unknown) and Santou Kyouden 山東京伝 (1761-1816). During the 1780's the humor of sharebon began to wear thin due mostly to an obsession with ugachi and the more sordid side of life in the quarters. At this time, Morishima Chuuryou 森島中良 (also called Manzou 万蔵 or Manzoutei 万蔵亭; actually Katsuragawa Hosan 桂川甫粲, 1754-1808) appealed to his contemporaries to restore sharebon to the genre's original gaiety. Chuuryou set an example with his INAKA SHIBAI 田舎芝居 (1787), which depicted rustic scenes from a village theater performance instead of concentrating on the pleasure quarters. In doing so, Chuuryou pioneered the way for the *kokkeibon 滑稽本 writers who emerged after the turn of the century as the literary heirs to the comic aspects of sharebon. In 1790 the shogunate issued edicts severly restricting the publication of fictional writings, which had often been used as a vehicle for satire. Increasingly, writers of sharebon began to develop more complex narrative structures and began to write about love, a development which then led to the *ninjoubon 人情本. Authors of this era include Shikitei Sanba 式亭三馬 (1776-1822), Jippensha Ikku 十返舎一九 (1765-1831) and Umebori Kokuga 梅暮里谷峨 (1750-1821). Illustrations in sharebon included the frontispiece of the first volume and anywhere from two or three to ten other illustrations. *Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists produced many of these illustrations although other print designers included town painters *machi-eshi 町絵師 or the amateur scholar-literati painters. A large number of illustrations were done by ukiyo-e artists Katsukawa Shunshou 勝川春章 (1726-92), Kitao Shigemasa 北尾重政 (1739-1820), Koikawa Harumachi 恋川春町 (1744-89) and Kitao Masanobu 北尾政演. There are also books illustrated by Katsukawa Shunkou 勝川春好 (1743-1812), Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿 (1753-1806), Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849), Jippensha Ikku, who also wrote sharebon, and Toyomaru 豊丸 (fl. 1785-97).

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