can refer to the early literary medium that circulated in Edo-period (1603–1867) Japan, circa 1661–1748, to the manga that was the dominant form of literary entertainment in Japan during the post-WWII period around 1946 to 1950 or to the compilation of past exam papers that aid university applicants in their academic preparation. Early akahon were softcover booklets featuring woodblock printed illustrations. belonged to a family of coloured books named , which were colour coded by genre. were distinguished from other by its red cover and coverage of less mature subject matters such as children's tales, fairy tales and folk legends. were the primary type of book in the style, meaning that in many cases, it was the first interaction with the world of literature for many Japanese children, so publishers would use plentiful illustrations and simple entertaining plots as the focal points to capture the attention of the young Japanese readership. The more modern manga shared the signature red covers with the early but its content differed due to the advent of the printing press and the influence of foreign media. manga featured bold colours and well known characters, as disregard to copyright laws was a defining feature of this genre, with authors often blatantly basing their novels off of well-known American characters, such as Disney's Three Little Pigs and Betty Boop. The compilation of university exam paper that is named is mostly used by university applicants to prepare for their university admission exams. are typically divided into the different universities they contain the past papers for, with sections in the books further divided into the different test subjects, such as Mathematics, English Studies, Japanese, etc. Many students attend , in conjunction with using the resource to familiarise themselves with both the exam format and the content. Since are relatively expensive, students looking for extra study materials use as a way of improving their knowledge for the fiercely competitive exams. can be bought online as well as in many Japanese bookstores. Historical origin Much of the understanding of early is dependent upon historical discoveries of these text types. A well-known example of one of these discoveries are Chokuro's books, which were a collection of and other objects that were found sealed in a wooden statue of Bodhisattva Jizo, as a memorial offering by a merchant father to his deceased son. This discovery provided insights about the role of in Edo,