Sixth Day

For codexes, titles are placed either on the left or in the center.

For poetry books, the title is placed usually on the left, and for prose books the title is usually placed in the center. According to the lesson, this has to do with how titles are placed on scrolls. On scrolls, titles are placed on the left on the outer side because if it were placed in the center, they would be covered, at least partially, when rolled up.

So for a codex to have its title on the left, it would mean that its quality is comparable to a scroll.

It is also important to take a look at the physical appearance of the book itself.

The shapes and sizes of old Japanese books are formats themselves. They are:

1. Yotsuhan-bon
2. Mutsuhan-bon
3. Yokonaga-bon
4. Yatsuhan-bon
5. Masugata-bon
6. Oversized books

 The formats are usually created by how a large rectangular sheet is folded and cut. This large rectangular sheet must have been how sheets of paper was made at least for a certain period of time in Japanese history. Fold a sheet into four sections and you get a Yotsuhan-bon, six and you get Mutsuhan-bon, eight Yatsuhan-bon. The rectangular books are called Yotsuhan-bon due to the shape of the second fold. Mutsuhan-bon are square because of how the three folds are done. Rectangular books were usually poetry books, while square books were usually prose books, and poetry was held in higher regard than prose books.

I did not get the two quizzes I've had on Week 2 right the first times so far... :(

Since hishi cannot be made in high quantities, maniai-gami ("makeshift paper") was used as the substitute. However it seems like lower-quality pictures could only be made on maniai-gami, compared to the beautiful pictures I've seen on hishi.

Week 3 will move on to the printed format.