The Sense of Famous Sites (Meisho) in Kashiwara-ya’s Current Titles Lists Yokohama Ukiyo-e (Ehon zôhan mokuroku) Kamiya Ran Komeiji Tatsuki

The port of Yokohama opened to the outside world in Kashiwara-ya (Shibukawa, Shôkôdô), was a pre-mod- 1859 (Ansei 6). For the next two years there was explosive ern period Osaka publisher known for such works as growth, almost a boom, in the number of ukiyo-e works Tachibana Morikuni’s Ehon shahôbukuro (1720, Kyôhô 5), depicting Yokohama scenery published. Ukiyo-e history and Ôoka Shunboku’s Minchôshiken (1746, Enkyô 3), the treats these works as a single ukiyo-e style, and their sub- book renowned for spearheading the kappazuri style of jects, whether images of foreigners or depictions of their ehon (illustrated books). This article uses the current titles habits, cover a diverse range. And yet I sense that investi- lists (zôhan mokuroku) that appear in Kashiwara-ya ehon gation has stopped on what influenced that diversity, on as a means of identifying and clarifying the characteristics the examination of depicted subjects, the iconographic of the company’s ehon publishing activities. sources or indeed comparisons of the depicted sites to First I surveyed and analyzed the current titles lists their present day locations. Did meisho (famous sites in found at the end of the works printed by Kashiwara-ya English), actually exist in Yokohama, a city born as an that contain the term ehon, such as Ehon mokuroku and open port? We can observe the process by which, along Ehon shuttai mokuroku. This survey confirmed 11 types of with the opening of the port of Yokohama, new Western ehon current titles lists, which can be divided into three elements were added to the meisho elements that charac- format types, namely Ôhon I, Ôhon II, hanshibon. terized period famous sites. I then analyzed how each of the current titles lists in We can confirm that several meisho were known in the three different formats was actually used in Kashiwara- the Yokohama area during the prior to the ya books, and clarified that they used different current ti- opening of the port. All of these sites were fitted with the tles lists depending on the book. In addition to this analysis traditionally required meisho elements, such as the pres- I also referred to the book’s contents, legal records and ence of Benten, or scenic beauty. This type of site, how- other materials and can now indicate that the choice of ever, did not exist in Yokohama, a new city founded as the which current titles list to use was based on the respective country’s new open port. And yet the discernment of book’s contents. meisho in Yokohama led to the publication of ukiyo-e print Based on these observations I analyzed the character- series titled Yokohama meisho (Famous Sites of Yokoha- istics of the books within each format type. Based on the ma). The depicted foreigners were an essential meisho el- current titles list type, I was able to discern that the Ôhon ement and we can confirm that the combination of such I type works were intended as iconographic compendia imagery with other Western elements such as Western for motifs to be used in textiles, Ôhon II type works were style architecture led to the appearance of Western meisho intended as copybooks compiling copies of previous in Yokohama. works, and hanshibon type works were educational books With the opening of the railway between Yokohama that explained picture subjects. and Shinagawa, the stage for ’s opening to the out- These observations then led me to conclude that side world moved from Yokohama to and there Kashiwara-ya divided their ehon into three types in line was a corresponding decline in the number of Yokohama with their content characteristics, and then developed ukiyo-e prints. Even in that process, however, works bear- their ehon publications along each of those product lines. ing Yokohama meisho titles were once again published. Finally, using the works of Tachibana Morikuni and Yo- We can see the breadth of the meisho term in their depic- shimura Shuzan as examples, I indicated that this publica- tion of the diverse types of places that were created by tion method influenced the content formation of the Yokohama’s development. We can see how the complete works. I conclude by noting that in addition to the charac- mixing of Japanese and Western made the Yokohama teristics of the artists themselves, we must analyze pub- streetscape into a famous site. Thus these Yokohama lisher intent in our consideration of ehon. ukiyo-e works not only depicted the novel or the rare, they can also be considered a group of works that trace the process by which meisho were created in a new city.

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