Santo Kyoden
Encyclopedia
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
in the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. His real name was , and he was also known popularly as . He is the brother of Santō Kyōzan.
Life
Santō Kyōden was born in FukagawaFukagawa (Tokyo)
is a region in Kōtō ward of Tokyo metropolis, Japan. It is one of the representative shitamachi of Tokyo. Formerly, it was a ward of the historical Tokyo City. Its postal code is 135-0033....
in Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
. The Iwase family into which he was born were pawnbrokers in a lumberyard. He studied ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e
' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...
under master , and began illustrating kibyōshi
Kibyoshi
' is a genre of Japanese picture book kusazōshi produced during the middle of the Edo period, from 1775 to the early 19th century. Physically identifiable by their yellow-backed covers, kibyōshi were typically printed in 10 page volumes, many spanning two to three volumes in length, with the...
under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of . He soon started writing these novels also under the name of Santō Kyōden; several novels are labeled as written by Santō Kyōden and illustrated by Kitao Masanobu. He wrote kibyōshi and sharebon
Sharebon
The was a pre-modern Japanese literary genre. Plots revolved around humor and entertainment at the pleasure quarters. It is a sub-genre of gesaku.-Characteristics:As a sub-genre of gesaku, humor was a major aspect to each story...
in great numbers, and became a popular writer. During this time he married twice, both his wives being licensed workers of Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara was a famous Akasen district in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to...
.
During the Kansei Reforms
Kansei Reforms
The were a series of reactionary policy changes and edicts which were intended to cure a range of perceived problems which had developed in mid-18th century Tokugawa Japan....
, "[...] military and civil arts were encouraged, and the decadent writings of gesaku authors were condemned." In 1791, Kyōden published three sharebon: , , and . This incurred the anger of the stricter government and he was chained in manacles to his house for fifty days as punishment.
Kyōden then broke off all ties with sharebon and turned to writing yomihon
Yomihon
is a type of Japanese book from the Edo period , that was influenced by Chinese vernacular novels such as Water Margin. Unlike other Japanese books of the period, they had few illustrations, and the emphasis was on the text. Often described as moralistic, the books also featured plot elements taken...
. Kyokutei Bakin
Kyokutei Bakin
was a late Japanese Edo period gesaku author best known for works such as Nansō Satomi Hakkenden and Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki.-Life:He was born as , he wrote under the pen name which is a pun as the kanji may also be read as Kuruwa de Makoto meaning a man who is truly devoted to the courtesans of...
joined with Kyōden to write gesaku
Gesaku
is an alternative style, genre or school of Japanese literature. In the simplest contemporary sense, any literary work of a playful, mocking, joking, silly or frivolous nature may be called Gesaku. Unlike predecessors in the literary field, Gesaku writers did not strive for beauty and perfect...
jointly, and independently Kyōden also wrote essentially historical texts on the manners and customs of the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. Kyōden was an acute observer of life in the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. While at ease with exaggeration, comedy and linguistic fun, his writing was primarily realistic
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
.
Fiction writers prior to Kyōden generally wrote fiction as a hobby without any expectations of payment. Kyōden was one of the pioneers in turning this hobby into a livable profession.