Tokyo Shelf
Forgotten Japanese technical and artisanal texts, in English for the first time.
First English editions of pre-modern Japanese craft, brewing, ceramic, dye, and herbal-medicine literature — selected by hand and translated in full, from the rich technical writing of Meiji-, Taishō-, and early-Shōwa-era Japan.
Currently in preparation
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Tokyo Shelf is open
First English editions of forgotten Japanese technical and artisanal texts. -
Black Koji (1919) — Kawauchi Genichiro's field notebook
Five-page sample from the forthcoming first English edition of Aspergillus luchuensis Inui · Kuro-Kōji. -
The Latest Theory of Soy Sauce Brewing (1913)
Toganō Meijirō's 469-page foundational treatise — sample from the forthcoming first English edition.
To follow as new translations appear
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About
Tokyo Shelf publishes first English editions of forgotten Japanese technical and artisanal texts. Read each work in full, translated by hand, with original tables, diagrams, and chemical or microbiological data preserved and modernized where useful. The translation work is mine; the underlying texts belong to the world.