Reading Images: Challenging Edo Period Moji-e

Moji-e are figures created using written characters—most often, the very characters that make up their names. These visual creations flourished during the Edo period, appearing across various media, particularly in books and prints. Yet they have come down to us without any instructions for use and have rarely attracted scholarly attention.

In this talk, I will consider how these hybrid objects, in which image and text are inextricably linked, should be read. The corpus offers a wealth of enlightening examples that shed light on the diverse practices of reading in the Edo period, ranging from the rudimentary construction of some moji-e to the extreme refinement of others, in which the written characters are barely recognizable.

Is it a matter of deciphering, decrypting, or recognizing the written characters embedded in the image? Should all moji-e even be read at all? This talk will examine a broad range of examples and propose several hypotheses regarding the choices made by artists and the strategies employed by viewers when confronted with such complex works.
 

Marianne Simon-Oikawa has been a Professor of Japanese Studies at Université Paris Cité since September 2022. She is a member of the East Asian Civilizations Research Centre (CRCAO), where she leads a collaborative research programme on 'Fukidashi' (speech balloons), and the Centre for the Study of Text and Image (CEEI).

Prof. Simon-Oikawa first trained at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (1989–95). She completed her doctoral thesis in Semiotics of text and image at the University of Paris 7 (now Université Paris Cité) in 1999. Prior to her current appointment, she spent over 25 years in Japan, serving as an assistant professor at Keio University and the University of Tokyo.

Her research focuses on Japanese visual culture, particularly the relationship between writing and images, adopting an intermedial, multidisciplinary and trans-areal approach. Her main areas of study are moji-e (images made of written characters) from the Edo period to the present day and visual poetry.

Her most recent publication is: "Écriture et poésie dans les moji-e de l’époque d’Edo : l’exemple de Hitomaro", écriture et image, no5, 2024, p. 29-45. She is currently writing a comprehensive book on Edo-to-Meiji moji-e.