This chapter traces the formation and development of the late yomihon as a fictional form, focusing on Santo Kyoden's and Kyokutei Bakin's innovations and the relationship between the two authors. The haishi-mono or unofficial history style emerged in Edo in the wake of the Kansei Reforms, carried out under the direction of Matsudaira Sadanobu. After Santo Kyoden's attention-getting punishment for three of his sharebon, some early yomihon authors active in Edo incorporated discussions of the reforms in their work. The first unofficial history yomihon was Santo Kyoden's Chu shin suikoden, illustrated by Kitao Shigemasa. Kyoden's second yomihon was Asaka no numa, which was the product of a combination of prominent works from the Chinese and Japanese traditions. Bakin's first yomihon was Takao senjimon. Bakin has come to be regarded as the preeminent yomihon author, a firm grasp of the role Kyoden played in the genre, and of Bakin's relationship to him, is essential to an accurate understanding of late yomihon.

The genre known as kokkeibon or comic novellas emerged in the aftermath of the Kansei Reforms. Before the reforms, the field of popular fiction had been dominated by two genres: the dialogue-based sharebon and the illustrated kibyoshi. Jippensha Ikku made his debut in popular fiction as a writer of kibyoshi under the patronage of the powerful publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo. Murataya Jirobe had organized an otoshi-banashi club in which Ikku had participated, collecting the comic tales presented at the meetings for publication in the form of hanashibon and kibyoshi. The dialogue between the protagonists that carries the story resembles the narrative technique found in sharebon, a genre in which Ikku had written extensively. Ikku drew his humorous content from a wide variety of sources, including kyogen plays and classic comic stories. The other major kokkeibon author was Shikitei Sanba. Sanba's first work in the genre was a collaboration with Santo Kyoden on a kokkeibon titled Kyogen kigo.