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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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. Each work is read in full, translated by hand, with original tables, diagrams, and chemical or microbiological data preserved and modernized where useful. Delivered as PDF and Markdown. The translations are my own; the texts themselves were written long ago — their authors died more than seventy years ago, and under Japanese copyright law the works are now free to read, translate, and pass on.