The so-called "period novels" generally refer to novels set before the Meiji Restoration as the background. "Time Fiction" is a fictional story.To give a practical example, Jin Yong's series of novels are "time novels". In Japan, the period novel market is very large, standing in a tripartite relationship with modern novels and mystery novels.Generally speaking, the readers of period novels are mainly middle-aged men, and there are not many women or young girls.But in terms of population ratio, this market is a big pie. Only the men of the "Block Generation" (broadly speaking, those born between 1947 and 1951) who retired successively in 2007, There are 3.32 million people. Once they retire, they will certainly have more time to read.From this point of view, Miyuki Miyabe's period novels are of great significance to the Japanese publishing industry, because she has opened up many readers of women and young girls.

However, there is also a trend of reading period novels.According to the owner of "Kaisaka Shobo" (1-42, Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), Japan's only historical novel bookstore for period novels, the most popular period novel writer is Saeki Yasuhide, followed by Ue Samari, and Yamamoto Kazuki , Otsukawa Yusaburo et al.In the past, popular works were mainly novels of the Sengoku period, but in recent years they have shifted to the end of the Tokugawa period and the Meiji Restoration period.In my impression, among the novels of the end of the Bakumatsu period, the best-selling novel in recent years is probably Taro Asada's "The Legend of the Righteous Person Mibu", which was not only made into a TV series but also into a movie.

Miyuki Miyabe and Natsuhiko Kyogoku are the best-selling novelists of the era in the new bookstore.The period novels of these two writers have their own characteristics and have a large group of diehard readers.Generally speaking, the sales volume of works that win by human feelings and scenery is better than that of "Jambala" (swordsmanship and the like).In particular, some series of works with reclusive old people as the main characters, such as "Keijiro's Enside Diary" by Kitahara Aiko (starred by Takahashi Hideki), Fujisawa Shuhei's "Kyozaemon Remnant Day Record" (starred by Nakadai Tatsuya) ), Shiraishi Ichiro's "Sleep at 10:30" (starring Masago Shimada), not only are long-selling works, but also made into NHK dramas.

Period novels usually don't squeeze into the bestseller list in a short period of time, but they have a long life and are considered long-sellers.Once male Japanese writers reach a certain age, they usually want to try writing period fiction.And now the Japanese publishing house is also taking the route of "newly published library works". In other words, it was not serialized in literary magazines before, and it was not an expensive hardcover "stand-alone" when it was launched, so readers don't have to wait for the library version to be released before buying. You can take it home from the bookstore at the beginning.And taking into account the age of the readers, the font is also larger than ordinary literary books.

The Heisei era can be said to be an era in which period novels flourished.For readers who have read series of novels such as Fujisawa Shuhei and Ikenami Shotaro, seeing a large number of new era novels on the platform in a bookstore will really dazzle their eyes, and they don't know where to start.Fortunately, era novels are usually a series of novels with the same protagonist as the protagonist. Readers only need to read the first one or two books to roughly judge whether they suit their tastes.If they match, the whole series will continue to chase.This kind of readers will not "like the new and dislike the old", and will keep chasing it until the end of the series.Moreover, readers of era novels don't care much about the author's popularity. Even a fledgling author can still sell well as long as the first book is well written.

For example, Taiying Saeki, who is currently the most popular, started writing contemporary novels in 1999 at the age of fifty-seven. In just a few years, his series of novels have sold more than one million copies.The age of writers of period novels is also gradually getting younger, and currently the most forty-year-old generation is accounted for.Even the "light novels" with teenagers and girls as the main readers, there are many outstanding period novels. Having said that, can period novels only be classified as popular entertainment novels?No.Take the Michiki Award, one of the two major literary awards in Japan, since the first year of Heisei, eight period novels have won awards.The Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Award, which represents national literature, has won eleven works since the first year of Heisei.Even the Matsumoto Seicho Award, a master of mystery novels, has won seven awards since the first year of Heisei.It can be seen that the status of novels of the times is unshakable.

The main reason why Miyabe Miyuki's period novels have opened up many young female readers is that most of the protagonists in her novels are children, and children can induce the maternal instinct of young women.In addition, her novels have no violence or pornographic descriptions, and readers can read them with peace of mind.Furthermore, she likes to write about superpowers. She is probably the only Japanese writer who connects period novels with superpowers. The characters set by the novel writers of the previous generation usually focused on swordsmen and samurai, but the characters set by Miyuki Miyabe were ordinary people. It's all a little silly, which makes people laugh.

She herself said that every time she starts writing a period novel, she will try her best to reread "Half-Seven Catcher's Tent", which is the origin of the catch novel, so as to review the background and customs of that era; "Criminal Account" theme song of the period drama.After finishing writing, the editor-in-charge will also check whether there are any modern words in the content. I heard that once the word "one week" was written in a novel of the era, even the editor-in-charge ignored it. It was the proofreading editor who found out and notified her, so she hurriedly changed it. It became a term used in the Edo period.

In addition to superpowers, she also likes to add weird plots to period novels.Children, superpowers, and weirdness are the three elements that make her period novels appeal to young female readers. If I want to add another feature, it is "good people."There are no real villains in her period novels, which leave one feeling warm after reading them. In short, if pure literature novels mostly focus on the fragility of human nature, I think contemporary novels should state the strength of human nature.For me, period fiction is an opiate, addictive but not poison. (For details about the author of this article, please refer to the mouth of the book)