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378 romantic incidents and passionate speeches, and, in short, converting them from vaguely outlined personages of history into real men and women.

The great service rendered by Shunsui and his fellow-composers of Ninjōbon was to recall the attention of writers and readers of fiction to human nature as the proper subject of the novelist's art. Since the time of Murasaki no Shikibu this branch of study had been sadly neglected in Japan. The novelists of the romantic school were too much occupied with sensational situations, hairbreadth escapes, and supernatural wonders, to study the human heart with its affections and passions; while Ikku and Samba, though excellent in their way, were humourists and nothing more.

The Ninjōbon, it is true, do not show us human nature at its best. The society into which they introduce the reader is far from select, and the morality sadly defective. But the vital element of fiction is there. We find in these works real human beings depicted in such a way that we can follow their fortunes with interest, and sympathise with them in their joys and sorrows.

The dialogue of the Ninjōbon is in the ordinary colloquial language of Yedo, the narrative portion in the written style.

Amongst other Ninjōbon may be mentioned the Tsuge no Ogushi (1834), by Jippensha Ikku the younger; Imosedori (n. d.), by Tamenaga Shunga, a pupil of Shunsui; Musume Setsuyō (1831) and Musume Taiheiki (1837), by Kiokusanjin; and Temari Sannin Musume, by Shōtei Kinsui.

During the remainder of the Yedo period Japanese fiction presents no feature of special interest. A good many novels were produced in the several styles