ukiyozōshi

is the first major genre of popular Japanese fiction, written between the 1680s and 1770s in Kyoto and Osaka. Ukiyo-zōshi literature developed from the broader genre of kana-zōshi, books written in the katakana vernacular for enjoyment, and was initially classified as kana-zōshi. The term "ukiyo-zōshi" first appeared in 1710 in reference to amorous or erotic works, but the term later came to refer to literature that encompassed a variety of subjects and aspects of life during the Edo period with the most common being that of the ordinary townsperson. Books of this genre included ukiyo-e illustrations often made by the most prominent artists at the time. The most prominent author of ukiyo-zōshi was Ihara Saikaku, whose works were not regarded as high literature at the time, but became popular and were key to the development and spread of the new genre. Saikaku was preceded by and worked at the same time as many other authors such as Shogetsudo Fukaku and Ejima Kiseki, all of which helped to shape ukiyo-zōshi and inspire future genres. Ukiyo-zōshi continued until the end of the eighteenth century, but its quality steadily declined. Overall, the genre lived for less than a century and died from conventionalization as well as a lack of new ideas for stories.

== Characteristics == By the time the ukiyo-zōshi genre first appeared, the commercial publishing industry had been fully developed. Ukiyo-zōshi books were published at a fixed size and length, and it was around this time that literature first began to be published for profit. For these reasons, prose literature, including ukiyo-zōshi, tended to be of low quality. Nevertheless, many ukiyo-zōshi works, particularly those of Saikaku, feature sophisticated literary techniques, structures, and insight into the lives and personalities of the characters.