Danijela Vasić
Univerzitet u Beogradu
Filološki fakultet – Katedra za orijentalistiku, Beograd
vasic.danijela@fil.bg.ac.rs

doi: 10.19090/cit.2022.41.45-61
No. 41 (November 2022), p. 45-61

The Evolution of Literacy and Reading Culture in Japan

Summary

The Japanese describe themselves as a “nation of readers”. This is not incorrect if you look at the history of reading in Japan, which dates back to the 5th century, when the Chinese writing system arrived in this country. The Japanese gradually adapted it to their own language. The creation of the kana syllabic alphabet enabled the flourishing of literature, and thus the copying activities, especially at the Japanese imperial court. The monks in the temples were also engaged in copying Buddhist texts, but they were the first to accept printing with wooden blocks, which arrived from China. Over time, the printing of books of various genres began. Itinerant merchants and numerous bookstores where books were also rented, tried to satisfy the hunger for reading of all social classes. The book market grew more and more, and the real reading revolution came with the period of intensive modernization of the country in the second half of the 19th century, when Japan made all its efforts to reach and overtake Western models. Publishing, as well as the developed library activity of modern society, rest on such foundations. The reading culture of today’s Japan is reflected in the number of published books, but also in the steady growth of the number of libraries, both public and special, as well as libraries within the educational system in Japan. Today, all segments that form that culture, such as education, printing, publishing and library activities, etc., adapt to the new era defined by globalization and digitalization progress. Although the impressive growth of the figures, which illustrate the size of the book and magazine market, has stopped in recent years, they still prove the fact that the Japanese are truly the “nation of readers”. Libraries also manage to keep up with new trends, so digital libraries appear on the Internet, while all others have available digital catalogs and reading materials. If we look back at the centuries-old attachment of the Japanese to books and reading, and if we look at the technologies we are surrounded by, it is clear to us that librarians are constantly faced with new challenges. Just as the copyist at the Japanese court supplied court ladies with the latest readings, the traveling merchant did his best to make the book reach the most remote mountain villages, the modern librarian also does his best to overcome all obstacles and meet the expectations of increasingly demanding library users.

Keywords:

Japan, Chinese writing, Kanbun, Kana writing, wooden block technique, Meiji Restoration, Japan Library Association (JLA), public libraries, university libraries, school libraries, specialized libraries

Submitted: 28th February 2022
Correction to the manuscript: 8th October 2022
Accepted for publication: 30th October 2022

The Evolution of Literacy and Reading Culture in Japan by Danijela Vasić is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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