Copywriter in the Edo period
ISHIZUKA Hokaishi
1799-1861
Name
Common name: Kamakuraya Jubei
Name: Hokaishi
Pen names: Shukodo, Karashiya, and Hotei
Posthumous Buddhist name: Hokaishinji
Occupation
Historian
Biographical Sketch
He was born the son of a miller in Kanda in Edo (old Tokyo).
Hokaishi collected rare and old books intermittently while working at the family business. He was particularly known as a collector of books on military history, geography, theatrical productions, and manners. He interacted through books with such intellectuals as Santo Kyoden, Ryutei Tanehiko, and Kawatake Mokuami.
His writings are on Kabuki and the red-light district, and they are acknowledged even now to be basic sources. He was also famous for his work as a copywriter producing advertisements distributed as leaflets that were in circulation among the cultural elite of the time.
He died at the age of 63 and was interred at Sennen Temple in Honjo.
Ex-libris Ownership Stamp
He also had a stamp shaped like an elephant and a stamp written as "豊芥子戯書屋" (hokaishi tawamure shooku).
One of Hokaishi's works, titled "Gaidan Bunbun Shuyo", is a collection of events recorded during the 26 year period of the Bunka and Bunsei eras (1804 to 1830). In "Hokaishi Nikki" (diary) which was extracted from these writings covering a two year period during the tenth and eleventh year of the Bunka era (1813 and 1814) we find some items relating to elephants, dealing with materials relating to the elephants that had been brought to Japan and elephants in general.
It seems that Hokaishi liked elephants enough to use them as a motif in his own ex-libris ownership stamp.
Reading and the size of the ex-libris ownership stamp
石塚文庫(ishizuka bunko): 23x22mm
豊芥[elefant](hokai[zo]): 25x20mm
Portrait
Nomura, Bunsho. Shozo Volume 2. [か-75]
