PUBLISHING HOUSES

   The modern Japanese publishing industry began during the Meiji period with the widespread use of moveable type. Prior to that time, Japanese publishers favored wood block printing, owing to its facility for including illustrations. As newspapers began to appear in the late 19th century, they sought to expand readership by adding serialized tales written by avant-garde writers or transcribed from the performances of professional storytellers (see KODAN; RAKUGO). Book publishers also emerged as the market grew for reprints of Tokugawa-period fiction, translations of Western literature, and contemporary experimental fiction. Many modern publishing houses, such as Kodansha and Hakubunkan, made their initial capital off the success of publishing taishu bungaku (popular literature) written in a colloquial (genbun itchi) style. In postwar Japan, such literary journals as Bungei shunju (Literary Chronicle) bolstered publishers’ reputations and coffers. In recent years, publishing houses have faced growing pressures owing to the postbubble recession and advances in Internet publishing.

   See also AKAI TORI; BUNDAN; CENSORSHIP; CHUO KORON; KIKUCHI KAN; LITERARY AWARDS; LITERARY JOURNALS; MANGA; TOKUGAWA LITERATURE; TOKUTOMI SOHO; YOSE.