Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The book in Japan
has had a long history, beginning in the late eighth century A.D. The
majority of books were hand-copied until the Edo period (1603-1867),
when woodblock printing became comparatively affordable and widespread.
Movable-type printing had been used from the late sixteenth century, but
for various aesthetic and practical reasons woodblock printing and
hand-copied remained dominant until much later. Japanese equivalents for
'book' include(hon) and (shoseki).
