retchousou　列帖装

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Also tetsuyousou 綴葉装 or retsuyousou 列葉装. A multisection book. A type of Japanese book-binding. The first three to five sheets of paper are piled up and folded in half to make a set. Then several sets of folded sheets are arranged in a neat pile with the folded edges forming the spine. The binding is made by sewing the sections together using a complex and time-consuming procedure. The finished book, therefore, can be opened perfectly flat. Retchousou originated in Japan in the 12c, and was widely used for works of native literature, including narrative stories *nou 能 texts, and anthologies of Japanese poetry waka 和歌. It was not used for Chinese or Buddhist texts. Confusingly, the terms *kochousou 胡蝶装 (butterfly book) and *yamatotoji 大和綴 are sometimes used to refer to multisection books, and during the late Edo period even the term *detchousou 粘葉装 became confused with retchousou.

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