Kibyōshi

Kibyōshi (黄表紙; lit. 'yellow cover') is a genre of Japanese picture book (草双紙, kusazōshi) produced during the middle of the Edo period (1603–1867), from 1775 to the early 19th century, physically identifiable by their yellow-backed covers. Considered to be the first purely adult comic books in Japanese literature, a large picture spanned each page, with descriptive prose and dialogue filling the blank spaces in the image.

Known for its satirical view of and commentary on flaws in contemporary society, these books focused primarily on urban culture, with most early works writing about the pleasure quarters. Typically, kibyōshi were printed with 10 pages in a volume, with the average number of total pages being 30, thus spanning several volumes. Kibyōshi used kana-based vernacular language, and due to the numerous characters and letters in the Japanese language, moveable type printing took longer to catch on in Japan, so Kibyōshi text was carved directly onto the same wood block as the illustration for printing. This allowed for a close and harmonious interaction between image and text, with either a balance of both elements, or text dominating the image.

While kibyōshi may have only been popular for a short period of time, thousands of pieces were published. At its peak in 1784, a record of 92 titles were published. Only a fraction of this genre has been studied, leaving much to still be written.