Ihara Saikaku
As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of "bunraku" (puppet theatre), "kibyōshi" (satirical novels), "sharebon" (books on urban culture), "kokkeibon" (comical books), "ninjōbon" (romance novel), "yomihon" and "kusazōshi" were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were "Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko" ("Life of an Amorous Man") by Ihara Saikaku, "Nansō Satomi Hakkenden" by Takizawa Bakin and "Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige" by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times.