← Fame through time1700-1799
The 18th century
Whose working lives fell in the 18th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 18th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Kobayashi Issa0 decades - 2
Yosa Buson0 decades - 3
Ryōkan0 decades - 4
Ueda Akinari0 decades - 5
Hiraga Gennai0 decades - 6
Fukuda Chiyo-ninot measured- - 7
Ogyū Sorai0 decades - 8
Sugita Genpaku0 decades - 9
Santō Kyōden0 decades - 10
Kamo no Mabuchi0 decades - 11
Kada no Azumamaro0 decades - 12
Aoki Kon'yōnot measured- - 13
Tokugawa Munetakenot measured- - 14
Ōta Nanponot measured- - 15
Karai Senryūnot measured- - 16Katsuragawa Hoshūnot measured-
- 17
Motoori Ōhiranot measured- - 18
Yokoi Kinkokunot measured- - 19
Yoshio Kōsakunot measured- - 20
Morishima Chūryōnot measured- - 21
Namiki Sōsukenot measured- - 22Miura Choranot measured-
- 23Rai Baishinot measured-
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.