Question

Name the oldest printer of Japan?

Answer 1

Hint:
Japanese printing technology was initiated by Chinese Buddhist missionaries around AD 768-770.
Traditionally, Japanese books were made of ‘washi’ or Japanese material. This sturdy, fibrous paper is not readily yellowed or fragile with age, which has led to the exceptional preservation of early books in Japan.

Complete answer:
The oldest Japanese Buddhist book to be printed was the Diamond Sutra in 868 A.D. which is popular and known as a private publication for different esthetic and functional purposes.

Japan has a long tradition of printing involving a number of various methods and technology, but most books were still copied by hand before the Edo period.

There were several styles of prints: woodblock printing was the most common method of publication, hand-copied printing and movable-type printing were less. The first was used in the printing of academic and Buddhist printing and one that was forbidden in woodblock printing. The book named Kobun Kokyo, Classic of Filial Piety was the first printed book of Japan using movable type.

In the kana syllabary print before the Meiji period, the letters were meant to imitate the hand-written calligraphic style and sometimes resulted in near-perfect imitations that are difficult to discern from real hand-copied works.

Note:
The contemporary Japanese novel varies little in the construction of the western book. However, most novels, including manga, a popular part of Japanese culture today, are printed to be read top-to-bottom and right-to-left. Different technical books and textbooks, which appear to be printed similarly to the Western standard and are read left-to-right and top-to-bottom, are a significant anomaly in the arrangement.