Kanazōshi (仮名草子) describes a type of printed Japanese book that was produced primarily in Kyoto between 1600 and 1680. The term literally means “books written in kana” (kana being the phonetic Japanese syllabary that is simpler to read and write than kanji, or Chinese characters). The designation thus derives from the fact that the text of these books was written either entirely in kana or in a mixture of kana and kanji.