Reading Edo through Kibyōshi: Intercultural Historical Competence and Reflections on Women’s Roles

This paper integrates intercultural learning theory with Japanese historical methods to examine kibyōshi , comic picture books, as cultural texts that illuminate representations of women in Edo print culture during the transitional period from the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century. Rather than reconstructing daily life, it introduces the Intercultural Historical Competence (IHC) model, adapted for Japanese studies, to analyze how gender roles were imagined, negotiated, and circulated through mass publishing. IHC positions kibyōshi as interpretive lenses that open perspectives on Edo-period values while encouraging present-day global reflection on cultural and temporal difference. Through this approach, the study reassesses women’s visibility in Edo society and demonstrates how a short-lived popular genre can function as historical evidence and as a resource for teaching.