Kyoto International Manga Museum

Influenced in by Charles Wargman - a Brit who founded the Japan Punch* publication in Yokohama ? Kanagaki Robun (pseudonym) and Kawanabe Kyosai in 1874 published the first Japanese-published manga magazine.

The popular word “Punch” became the title of the magazine and Japan Punch's mix of highly simplified style of drawings with its topical, current affairs themes was borrowed, and they intended to produce a serial publication.

However, the content of the manga had a conservative side which criticized Itagaki Taisuke's free imagination and Fukuzawa Yukichi's revolutionary thinking and therefore was not popular within the “civilization-mooded” society at the time, thus it stopped publication after three issues. It seems there was a limit to manga expression on the cover also, where the official permission is written.

The role this magazine played was to urge the publication in 1875 of the caricature magazine “Kisho Shimbun”* (Hashizume Kinzo, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi), then follow with the publication of topical satire magazine “Marumaru Chinbun”*and Kyoto's “Garakuta Chinpo”* in 1877 and 1879 respectively. (Shimizu Isao)

In 1905, “Tokyo Pakku”* edited by Rakuten Kitazawa, had been published and was a big hit, and by 1907 Japan's first children's manga magazine, “Shonen Pakku” (The Shonen Pakku Company) had begun publication.

Manga were originally a product that was marketed towards adults, but it evolved. Therefore, during the Meiji period, the children's genre of manga was still at an early stage of development. Thus it is intriguing that this kind of magazine would appear suddenly at this period of time.

This would seem to be an influence from overseas children's comic magazines. For example, some, like the British comic magazine “Puck”*, would come to Japan. Kashiwabara Denkichi, an employee of Jitsugyou no Nihon saw this and decided to create “Shonen Pakku”. Kawabata Shotaro (Ryushi) worked on it for three years as an artist. But it was the mid-Taisho period and Okamoto Ippei's “Kodomo Manga Emonogatari” which brought about the children's manga era. The next true children's manga magazine to appear was “Kodomo Pakku”* (Tokyosha), first published in 1924. Therefore, “Shonen Pakku” was a manga mazine for children which appeared at a rather early time. (Shimizu Isao)

When we look at the history of manga, we see a side which was brought about by war. The Sino-Japanese War kick-started the Giga-Nishikie boom, and the Russo-Japanese War brought about the manga magazine publication boom. In 1905: “Jijimanga Hibijutsu Gaho”* (Kyoto), “Nipponchi”*; 1906: “Tokyo Pakku”*; 1907: “Osaka Pakku”*, “Joto Ponchi”*; 1908: “Ehagaki Sekai”*, “Warai”*, “Shonen Pakku”* and so on. In 1908, “Poten” was published in Kyoto.

“Poten” apparently comes from the French word “potin”, meaning “rough-and-tumble”. Unlike other manga, it is 34cm long and 19cm wide, yet it has been strongly influenced by other manga magazines of the time. That the centerfold spread was a large single sheet of topical satire manga and that all the pages were printed in colour were influences from “Tokyo Pakku” and “Osaka Pakku”.

Also, on the last page there are four picture postcards which one can cut out and actually use ? an idea borrowed from Miyatake Gaikotsu's “Ehagaki Sekai”. It is unconfirmed whether there are issues other than the first issue. (Shimizu Isao)

“Kodomo Pakku” was first published in May 1924 by Tokyosha, who had also brought out the magazines “Shonen Gaho” and “Kodomo no Kuni”. This magazine is not held by any of the national leading facilities such as the National Diet Library.

As one of the few children's manga magazines for children during the Taisho period, it featured the glamorous and high-quality art of members of the Japanese manga society like Takei Takeo, Takehisa Yumeji and Aso Yutaka, thus it is a magazine which is worthy of special mention in Japanese manga history.

In terms of the representation method of manga, one can see frames with speech balloons. This is thought to be an influence from “Shochan no Boken”* in “Asahi Graph” from the previous year. However, about half of the manga were still of the manga-manbun style with no speech balloons.

Also, Takei Takeo's manga and illustrations, and Yamada Minoru's children's manga (for example, “Choki Choki Taro”) are valuable materials, even when one already knows of their ability. Issues 1 to 4 have been confirmed. (Shimizu Isao)

“Manga no Kuni”, which ran from May 1935 until January 1941(after August 1940, volume 6, issue 81, the title was changed to “Sashie Manga Kenkyu”), was published through Nakane Kotaro (Japan Manga Workshop) and is an important material for understanding the manga industry at the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War and immediately before the Pacific War.

Though the main aim of this magazine was training for cartoonists, it also featured information on the manga industry as well as manga discussions and research thus raising its value as a source material. Inside, there is also information on foreign comics industries, in particular news from that of Germany, comic magazines and also intriguing reports on how comic artists had gradually began cooperating with the Nazis. Nakane Konosuke (1900-87), the chairman, was originally from Ibaraki prefecture. As a tram driver, he was laid off for heading a tram debate as a member of union staff. Later he became independent and managed a boardinghouse, started an art college and the Japan Manga Workshop, conducting training for artists of manga and popular art, from 1935 to around 1965.

Kyoto International Manga Museum is the only facility to have collected this many issues of this magazine.　　(Shimizu Isao)