Marketing the Bunjin: Takebe Ayatari as an 18th-Century Entrepreneur of the Arts

In early modern (Edo/Tokugawa period) Japan, artists, writers, and poets known as bunjin actively portrayed themselves as transcendent followers of “art for art’s sake.” Realities of survival for many bunjin dictated that they actively pursue wealthy patrons, informally organized groups of paying disciples, or other sources of income in order to support their “refined” pursuits. In this illustrated lecture, Dr. Marceau examines a third approach which he asserts Takebe Ayatari took pains to pursue: publishing. Dr. Marceau will present Ayatari as a publishing entrepreneur who used his connections in Japan’s urban centers to promote his ideals in dynamically successful ways in the 1760s and 1770s.