God is a Customer: Japanese promotional books of late 18th-early 19th century

The image depicts a book cover in color with Japanese characters on the top and on the left and two figures in the center. The male figure in the front is sitting while holding an axe in one hand and extending his hand to the left. The female figure in the back is standing with a fan in one hand and walking stick in the other. — Front cover, Santō Kyōden and Kitao Masayoshi, *Onna masakado shichinin keshō* 女将門七人化粧, 1792 (National Diet Library, Tokyo, Japan)

Natalia Egorova

Dana-Allen Dissertation Fellow (2025-2026)

PhD Candidate, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, UW–Madison

God is a Customer: Japanese promotional books of late 18^th-early 19^th century

In the late 18^th-early 19^th century Japan, promotional and marketing strategies were prospering, and one of the ways shop keepers used to promote their businesses was through promotional books, or keibutsubon. These books were usually distributed at a shop’s grand opening or annual celebrations as a type of advertisement. Their plot was generally centered around the advertised brand, and they were commonly written as illustrated books. Despite its commercial nature, these books are great examples of creativeness and brilliant humor of the authors.

In this talk, I am going to look at this genre of promotional literature through advertising and marketing lenses. I examine the strategies that were implemented to promote the brand, and the ways that the image of the brand was constructed. I am deeply interested in reading such literary and art pieces as economic tools and how it can contribute to our understanding of the society of early modern Japan and the relationship between literature, consumerism, and capitalism.

Natalia Egorova is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UW–Madison. Her research focuses on marketing and advertising of cosmetics in early modern Japan, as well as visual and literary culture, and economic history. She holds an MSc in Japanese from the University of Oxford and BA in Asian studies from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Her research has been supported by the Japan Foundation.

*Events currently open only to 2025-26 fellows due to space concerns; please contact IRH at info@irh.wisc.edu to be added to a cancellation list for in-person events.*