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 — carefully sought out, one work at a time, 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 carefully sought out, read in full, and translated end-to-end, with original tables, diagrams, and chemical or microbiological data preserved and modernized where useful. Delivered as HTML, 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.