ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the late-Edo vogue for chikushiji (zhuzhici, or ‘bamboo branch lyrics’) as evidence of Japan's place within the wider Sinographic cosmopolis. Originating in Tang China and flourishing across Qing domains, Vietnam, Korea, and Lūchū, the genre conveyed local customs in cosmopolitan verse. Transmitted to Japan mainly through Chinese merchants at Nagasaki, chikushiji inspired poets such as Kominami Rissai, Yanagawa Seigan, and Rai San'yō to map Edo, Nagasaki, and Kyoto's pleasure quarters onto continental literary geographies. In doing so, their poems functioned as a lyrical lingua franca that connected Japan to wider regional networks of cultural and literary exchange.
