Hakubunkan (博文館新社, Hakubunkan Shinsha) 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.
History
In 1887, Ōhashi Sahei (大橋 佐平) founded the company in Yumi, Hongō, Tokyo (now part of Hongō, Bunkyō, Tokyo).[1] The company was named after Itō Hirobumi, based on an alternate pronunciation of his given name. Hakubunkan began publishing the magazine Nihon Taika Ronshū (日本大家論集, lit. Japan Expert Treatise Collection) in 1887 as well. One of the most famous stories to appear in the magazine was The Usurer (Konjiki Yasha) (also known as The Golden Demon) by Ozaki Kōyō, who based two of the characters in the play on Ōhashi Shintarō (大橋 新太郎) (son of the founder of the company) and Tomiyama Tadatsugu.
Hakubunkan then established Tōkyōdō (the predecessor of Tōkyōdō Shoten and Tohan Corporation) in 1891. The following year, Tōkyōdō moved to Hongoku, a neighborhood of Nihonbashi in Tokyo (now located in Chūō). In 1893, Tōkyōdō became a domestic and foreign news agency. At the beginning of 1895, Hakubunkan began publishing the general interest magazine Taiyō (太陽, lit. Sun). The Hakubunkan Printing Office (predecessor of Kyodo Printing) was then established in 1896.
In the years 1895-1933 Hakubunkan published Bungei Kurabu (文芸倶楽部, lit. Literary Club), the "first large-scale literary magazine in Japan directed at a mass audience".[2] 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 (大橋図書館, Ōhashi Toshokan) (now the Sankō Library) on June 15, 1902.[3] 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 (now part of Bunkyō Ward). 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
First issue of the first year (1906) of Shojo Sekai
Hakubunkan has published many magazines, including the following:
Bōken Sekai (冒険世界, January 1908 - December 1919) was succeeded by Shinseinen.
Bungei Club (文芸倶楽部, January 1895 - January 1921) changed its title to Shin Bungaku (新文学) from January 1921 issue, then later inherited to Shin Shumi until 1933.
Bunshō Sekai (文章世界, March 1906 - February 1921) changed its title to Shin Bungaku (新文学) from January 1921 issue, then was succeeded by Shin Shumi.
Japanese Game Boards in the Cotsen Children’s Library (Princeton University Library) - many of these game boards were published by Habubunkan (according to Cotsen's blog page "Japanese Board Games at the Cotsen Children’s Library")
