Genroku culture
Genroku culture (Genroku bunka in Japanese) is the culture of the early Edo period (1603–1867), especially the Genroku era (1688–1704). Known as a period of luxurious display when the arts were increasingly patronized by a growing and powerful merchant class.
Arts
It is generally felt that the Genroku era marks the high point of Edo period culture. Two representative artists of Genroku culture are Rimpa school artists Ogata Kōrin and Hishikawa Moronobu, who is regarded as the founder of Ukiyo-e. The term “Rimpa” (琳派) is an amalgamation of the last syllable of “Kōrin”. Torii Kiyonobu I was another Ukiyo-e artist.
Novels and poetry
The main elements of the emerging bourgeois culture were brought to their first flowering in Osaka and Kyoto, in the area called Kamigata. Examples are the jōruri and kabuki plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the Ukiyozōshi of Ihara Saikaku, and the poetic essays and haiku of Matsuo Bashō.
Kabuki
Aragoto-style actor Ichikawa Danjūrō I, wagoto-style actor Sakata Tōjūrō I, and onnagata actor Yoshizawa Ayame I are famous kabuki actors of the Genroku era.