Tsundoku – The art of buying books and not reading

Many have a pile of books at home that they don't read. This is so common that the Japanese have a word for people who usually buy books and never read. This word is called tsundoku [積ん読] and there are many interesting facts and information that we will consider in this article. 

Tsundoku [積ん読] is derived from the ideogram [積] which means to pile up and accumulate along with the ideogram for reading [読]. It refers to people who accumulate books, or end up having a enormous stock or pile of books.

This habit is quite common, I bought a pile of manga myself in Japan and I have never read it until today. Japan is a country that values reading a lot, so the existence of the word Tsundoku is understandable. What few know is its origin.

The origin of the word Tsundoku

It is believed that this word has existed since the Meiji era (1868-1912) and can be used to indicate a literal stack of books or to refer to a person who buys books but never reads. One of the earliest appearances of the word is in a text from 1879.

Tsundoku - the act of buying books and not reading them

If you take the word tsundoku literally, you might find that the expression says “read a stack" of books. And really that's the point of the word, to create a pun on the books we buy to read but don't read.

Tsundoku came from the verbs tsundeoku [積んでおく] which means to pile up or accumulate in one place, next to the word dokusho [Reading] means leitura. Note that tsundeoku and tsundoku are quite similar, hence a pun.

The verb tsundeoku [積んでおく] is the combination of the verb tsumu [積む] which means to pile up and leave, along with ok [置く] which means to put in a place. That's why the expression tsundoku like stacking books and not reading makes perfect sense.

Tsundoku - Stacking books in Japan

Some might imagine that collecting books in Japan must be difficult due to lack of space. In reality Japan doesn't even have as little space as some think, just big cities and apartments. Still, it's not so easy to have a library at home.

Tsundoku - the act of buying books and not reading them

The Japanese like practicality and minimalism. They are not so used to hoarding books, some even throw away a weekly magazine and donate or sell their used books to a store. The libraries of used books and manga are numerous and super cheap.

Still, it is not uncommon to accumulate books, as there are Japanese people who are not organized and simply pile things up in their house. Not to mention the Hikikomori who don't usually leave the house and their room becomes a mess.

In Japan this phenomenon of collecting books without reading is very common. People end up reading an entire manga in the weekly magazine, and simply buy the volumes separately to have them in a collection, without necessarily touching them.

Tsundoku - the act of buying books and not reading them

About 70% of the consumed reading in Japan is of Japanese origin. There are more than 100,000 new works every year, putting Japan in fourth place in the ranking. Japan generates nearly 20 billion dollars because of books every year, half of which are magazines.

Even when reading is impossible, the presence of acquired books produces such ecstasy that buying more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching the infinite... we appreciate books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort.

Edward Newton

The influence of the word Tsundoku in the World

Among readers all over the world the word tsundoku has become very popular. It turns out that people brought this word into other languages as they did with karaoke, tsunami, and otaku.

Some have even used this word for other things like ebooks, movies, DVDs, games, smartphone apps and others. Hoarding things and never using them is very common in everyone. Our life is so busy that we end up buying things we don't need.

Tsundoku - the act of buying books and not reading them

Have you ever had that feeling of having bought something in desperation and then saying, I didn't need it, nor am I using it. With books this is more difficult to do if a person has a pile of books or lacks time to read them or is lazy.

Another word with a similar meaning is Bibliomania, which refers to people who like to collect and accumulate books. The big difference is that tsundoku can also be used to simply refer to a stack of books or a room full of books.

I hope this article has explained even more what tsundoku means, if you liked it, share it and leave your comments. Finally, let's leave some recommended articles below:

Read more articles from our website

Thanks for reading! But we would be happy if you take a look at other articles below:

Read our most popular articles:

Do you know this anime?