Taiyō (magazine)

Taiyō (太陽; meaning The Sun in English) was a Japanese literary and general interest magazine that existed between 1895 and 1928 which covered the Meiji and Taishō eras. The magazine was published in Tokyo, Japan. It is a significant publication which contained mostly literary criticism, samples of Japanese literature and translations of international authors.[1] The magazine was one of the publications of Hakubunkan that made it well-known in the country.[2]

Taiyō
CategoriesLiterary magazine
Year founded1895
First issueJanuary 1895
Final issue
Number		1928
34
CompanyHakubunkan
CountryJapan
Based inTokyo
LanguageJapanese

History and profile

Taiyō was founded in 1895 and the first issue appeared in January 1895.[3][4] The publisher was Hakubunkan.[3][5] It was one of the most successful brands of the company.[6] The magazine targeted middle class people who were middle school graduate men and women.[4]

Editors of Taiyō included Yoshino Sakuzō (1878-1933),[6] Takayama Chogyū (1871–1902) and Hasegawa Tenkei (1876–1940).[1][7] It was instrumental in making romanticism and naturalism more popular in Japanese literary circles.[1] Therefore, the magazine featured translations of the work by major figures of these literary approaches, including Edgar Allan Poe, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, Mark Twain, Maurice Maeterlinck and Leo Tolstoy.[1] Major naturalist Japanese authors of which works were published in the magazine were Tokuda Shūsei, Tayama Katai and Shimazaki Tōson.[1] Japanese author Shimizu Shikin had a column in the magazine for nearly five years.[8] It was entitled Hanazono Zuihitsu (meaning Scribblings from a Flower Garden in English) and she used her real name, Kozai Toyoko, in the column.[8]

In addition to literary coverage Taiyō was also influential in using innovative technologies such as photography and illustrations.[9] The content of the magazine was comprehensive and was not limited to literary works. It frequently carried articles on political, military, economic and social commentary and on the Imperial family, women, commerce as well as articles on the natural sciences and cultural trends.[4][10] Takayama Chogyū published articles on literature, philosophy, and aesthetics in the magazine.[11] Masaharu Anesaki wrote for Taiyō under the pen name Anesaki Chōfū, including an article on German composer Richard Wagner's opera work.[12] It was one of the earliest articles about Wagner in Japan.[12] From 1902 Taiyō began to publish selected photographs of natural landscapes in Japan.[13]

Taiyō ended publication in February 1928 after producing 34 volumes and 531 issues.[3][4] The volumes of the magazine was digitalizated by JKBooks on the JapanKnowledge+ platform.[14] A similar archive also exists at the library of the Ohio State University.[15] The texts published in Taiyō were used to generate a corpus of Japanese language.[5]

References
  1. "Taiyō. Japanese magazine". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. Simon Eliot; Jonathan Rose (24 August 2011). A Companion to the History of the Book. John Wiley & Sons. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4443-5658-8.
  3. "Taiyo (The Sun)". Japan Knowledge. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. Leith Morton (1997). "The Concept of Romantic Love in the Taiyō Magazine 1895-1905". Japan Review. 8 (8): 79–103. JSTOR 25790980.
  5. Kikuo Maekawa (2006). "Kotonoha, the Corpus Development Project of the National Institute for Japanese Language" (PDF). Proceedings of the 13th NILJ Conference: 52–62. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. Adam Thorin Croft (13 May 2019). Urban Culture in Pre-War Japan. Taylor & Francis. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-429-74889-9.
  7. Haruo Shirane (2008). Envisioning the Tale of Genji: Media, Gender, and Cultural Production. Columbia University Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-231-14236-6.
  8. René Andersson (2000). "Burakumin and Shimazaki Toson's Hakai: Images of Discrimination in Modern Japanese Literature" (PDF). Lund University. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  9. Molly Des Jardin (March 2017). "Imperial Language in Taiyō Magazine". Price Lab for Digital Humanities. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  10. Tokiko Y. Bazzell (16 April 2019). "Trial access to Taiyo (The Sun) 太陽 Full-text Database via Japan Knowledge". University of Hawaii at Manoa Library. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  11. "Takayama, Chogyu". NDL. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  12. Neil Gregor; Thomas Irvine (17 December 2018). Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor. Berghahn Books. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-78920-033-1.
  13. Tomoo Mizutani (2017). "Impact of landscape photographs distribution by the "Taiyo" magazine on the way Japanese see natural landscape". Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture. 80 (5).
  14. "Taiyō Magazine and Nationhood". Molly des Jardin. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  15. "Hakubunkan's Taiyō (1895-1928) full text!". Library of Ohio State University. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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