Kokkei doke anmon―Writing summer greetings to a thunder god

摘要

Kokkei doke anmon is a book comprising 40 sample letters, such as New Year’s greetings, letters of sympathy, and letters of request, but written in humorously ostentatious language. For example, there is an example of how to write midsummer greetings to a thunder god as well as of how to write a letter to an evil spirit. Kokkeibon means "humorous book" in Japanese and is considered a subgenre of gesaku, or popular literature. This genre flourished during the first half of the 19th century, and late Edo period readers liked to amuse themselves with wordplay and funny stories.