Until around the Keian era, type printing had been rather widespread, but because the cost of publication increased due to the labor of setting up type for reprinting, typography gradually lost its position in the developing publishing industry and gave place to ordinary wood-block printing.
慶安ごろまでは比較的広い範囲で活字印刷がおこなわれたが、再版の際に活字を組みなおす手間が出版費を高騰させるなど、発展しつつあった出版産業のなかでしだいにその地位を失い、通常の整版本に座を譲っていった。