Are you interested in the history of cartoons and comic art in Japan? If so, you will definitely want to check out the anthology Manga Zasshi Hakubutsukan (漫画雑誌博物館/Manga Magazine Museum), held at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (BICLM), as well as in our Kinokuniya Digital Library (KinoDen) online. The chief editor of this twelve-volume set is Isao SHIMIZU (清水勲), a well-known manga historian and scholar who published over 100 books and articles during his lifetime.
Figure `1. Cover image of one of Japan’s earliest manga magazines, Tokyo pakku. Courtesy of Wikipedia.org.
Covering the history of manga at the turn of the 20th century, Manga Zasshi Hakubutsukan (漫画雑誌博物館/Manga Magazine Museum) offers select issues of some of the earliest and most innovative satirical magazines printed in Japan. To get a taste of the various titles covered in this anthology, let’s look at some of the highlights!
Volume 1 and 2 of this series is a reprint of Marumaru Chinbun (團團珍聞), a satirical journal published weekly between 1877-1907. Founded by Nomura Fumio 野村文夫 (1836-91), a former official of the Meiji government, this early periodical followed the style of British satire and humor magazines. Satirizing the government in articles, comics, haiku, and caricatures, this serial also covered pivotal events such as the Movement for Civil Rights and Freedom (自由民権運動, Jiyū Minken Undō) of the late 1800s.
