Photo/Illutration Ohya Shobo, a bookstore popular with foreign customers, located at the intersection of Kanda-Surugadai in Tokyo’s Kanda-Jinbocho district, on March 4 (Kae Morishita)

Foreign visitors and other history-minded readers are flocking to Tokyo’s Kanda-Jinbocho area, which is considered the “world’s largest used bookstore district.”

Around 150 antiquarian bookstores line the streets in the area, including Ohya Shobo, founded in 1882 and located at the Kanda-Surugadai intersection.

The popular store is filled with various collections of Japanese books, including literature from the Edo Period (1603-1868), ukiyo-e prints, old maps, and materials related to “yokai” monsters.

According to Kuri Koketsu, the fourth-generation owner of the store, foreign researchers and museum workers are frequent visitors to the store.

“Many foreign researchers want the ‘real thing,’ whether it is an old book or an ukiyo-e print,” she said. “They are more discerning than Japanese.”

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An old book at Ohya Shobo, a bookstore that has been in business for more than 140 years in Tokyo’s Kanda-Jinbocho district, on March 4 (Kae Morishita)

On a typical day, Koketsu and store staff are busy responding to foreign visitors’ constant questions.

“There was an American professor who bought Japanese books to use as teaching materials for Japanese culture classes,” Koketsu said. “They ask sharp questions on niche topics, such as bonsai.”

The popularity of antiquarian books is not limited to foreigners.

Interest has spread among Japanese since Tsutaya Juzaburo (1750-1797), a publisher in the Edo Period known as Tsutaju, was chosen as the main character in a Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) historical drama, titled “Berabo,” that will start in 2025.

Tsutaya is known for introducing artists, such as Kitagawa Utamaro and Sharaku, to the world.

Ohya Shobo owns many books produced by Tsutaya, including “Yoshiwara Saiken,” a guidebook for visitors to Tokyo’s Yoshiwara red-light district.

Many media worker often visit the bookstore, too.

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Ohya Shobo, a bookstore located at the Kanda-Surugadai intersection in Tokyo’s Kanda-Jinbocho district, has been in business for more than 140 years. (Kae Morishita)

Koketsu attends auctions for old books and ukiyo-e woodblock prints every week, hoping to find rarities and bargains.

“Popular books, like the ones by Tsutaya, rarely come up for auction,” she said. “But I want to do my best to bid on them when they do come up for sale.”

Koketsu once won a bid for a book that her grandfather had sold to an American collector.

When Koketsu published a catalog of 321 yokai-related materials from the Edo Period, she was asked to write an article for a magazine edited by manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, writer Hiroshi Aramata, and author Natsuhiko Kyogoku.

Books published in the Edo Period were printed by hand, with pictures and characters engraved on the woodblocks.

“These books have been read and passed down through the generations and have a different appeal from digital books,” Koketsu said.

With Tsutaya being portrayed in next year’s NHK drama, she said, “I hope that as many people as possible will experience the charm of the publishing culture that flourished in the Edo Period.”

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