Describe the development of print in Japan.

(i) Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology in Japan
Around AD 768-770.
(ii) The oldest Japanese book printed in AD 868 was the Buddhist Diamond. Sutra. It contained six sheets of text and wood cut illustrations.
(iii) Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.
(iv) In medieval Japan, the poets and prose writers regularly published their work.
(v) Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices. For example, in the late eighteenth century, at Edo (modern Tokyo) illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving artists, courtesans, and tea house gatherings.
(vi) Libraries and book-stores were full with hand-printed material of various types such as books on women, cooking, famous places, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony and flower arrangements.