Vengeful Promises: The Agency of Love Oaths as Materially Hybrid Texts in Late Seventeenth-Century Japan

This article focuses on the historical use and meanings of early modern oaths ( Jp. kishomon (sic)). These materially hybrid texts were initially stamped (on one side) and then inscribed by hand in ink (on the other side), often even in blood. Since they are an inextricable combination of print and handwriting, they complicate such dichotomies and open up a series of issues central to the understanding of scribal practices in early modern Japan. This article moves beyond their content analysis to address issues of materiality and agency along with the relationship between orality, writing and bodily practices.