Hakubunkan


Hakubunkan is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1887 amidst the wealth and military prosperity of the Meiji era. Hakubunkan entered the publishing arena by printing a nationalist magazine as well as expanding into printing, advertising, paper manufacturing, and related businesses, becoming one of Japan's largest publishing companies in the process.
Hakubunkan Shinsha's primary business is now publication of various diaries, journals, and day planners, especially those from the era of the original Hakubunkan company.
Hakubunkan is not related to the Osaka school teaching materials company Hakubun.
WWW hakubunkan.co.jp

History

In 1887, Ōhashi Sahei founded the company in Yumi, Hongō, Tokyo. The company was named after Itō Hirobumi, based on an alternate pronunciation of his given name. Hakubunkan began publishing the magazine Nihon Taika Ronshū in 1887 as well. One of the most famous stories to appear in the magazine was The Usurer by Ozaki Kōyō, who based two of the characters in the play on Ōhashi Shintarō and Tomiyama Tadatsugu.
Hakubunkan then established Tōkyōdō in 1891. The following year, Tōkyōdō moved to Hongoku, a neighborhood of Nihonbashi in Tokyo. In 1893, Tōkyōdō became a domestic and foreign news agency. At the beginning of 1895, Hakubunkan began publishing the general interest magazine Taiyō. The Hakubunkan Printing Office was then established in 1896.
In the years 1895-1933 Hakubunkan published Bungei Kurabu, the "first large-scale literary magazine in Japan directed at a mass audience". Its early contributors included Kawakami Bizan, Hirotsu Ryurō, Kosugi Tengai, Izumi Kyoka and Higuchi Ichiyo.
To celebrate its fifteenth anniversary, Hakubunkan opened the free private Ōhashi Library on June 15, 1902. The library is located in the Shiba Park neighborhood of Minato Ward in Tokyo.
Due to the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, the building which housed the headquarters of Hakubunkan was destroyed by fire, and the company relocated to the Tozaki area of Koishikawa, Tokyo. After the magazine Taiyō'' ceased publication in 1927, Hakubunkan continued to operate in the red, finally splitting into three companies in 1948: Hakuyūsha, Kōyūsha, and Kōbunkan. Hakuyūsha began using the Hakubunkan name again in 1949 before changing it again to Hakubunkan Shinsha in 1950.

Magazines

Hakubunkan has published many magazines, including the following:
  • Bōken Sekai was succeeded by Shinseinen.
  • Bungei Club changed its title to Shin Bungaku from January 1921 issue, then later inherited to Shin Shumi until 1933.
  • Bunshō Sekai changed its title to Shin Bungaku from January 1921 issue, then was succeeded by Shin Shumi.
  • Chūgaku Sekai
  • Jogaku Sekai
  • Kōdan Zasshi was later changed its publisher to Kōdanzasshisha to Bunyūkan then to Hakuyūsha.
  • Nihon Taika Ronshū was succeeded by Taiyō.
  • Nōgyō Sekai, changed its publisher to Nōgyō Sekaisha to Hakuyūsha.
  • Pocket
  • Shin Seinen changed its publisher from Ekoda Shobō to Bunyūkan then to Hakuyūsha.
  • Shin Shumi
  • Shōjo Sekai
  • Shōnen Sekai
  • Shōnen Shōjo Tankai, published from January 1940 as Kagaku to Kokubō Tankai)
  • Taiyō
  • Tantei Shōsetsu, September 1931 - 1932)
  • Yakyūkai was transferred from Yakyūkaisha to Hakuyūsha, while magazine title was changed a few times.
  • Yōnen Gahō
  • Yōnen Sekai''

List of volumes

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Book series

  • Jitsuchi oyo gigei hyakka zensho
  • Teikoku bunko
  • Teikoku hyakka zensho
  • Tsuzoku kyoiku zensho
  • Nogyo zensho
  • Sekai rekishidan, 35 volumes - series of biographies of famous people