Shōnen Sekai facts for kids
A black and white issue of Shōnen Sekai, volume 2, issue 5, from the Meiji era. Old postal stamps are also seen.
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| Editor | Sazanami Iwaya |
|---|---|
| Categories | manga, shōnen, fiction, nonfiction, art |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | Sazanami Iwaya |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Final issue | 1914 |
| Company | Hakubunkan |
| Country | Japan |
| Based in | Tokyo |
| Language | Japanese |
Shōnen Sekai (少年世界, "The Youth's World"), is one of the first shōnen magazines published by Hakubunkan specializing in children's literature, published from 1895 to 1914. Shōnen Sekai was created as a part of many magazine created by Hakubunkan that would connect with many different parts of society in Japan. Sazanami Iwaya created the Shōnen Sekai magazine after he wrote Koganemaru a modern piece of children's literature. After Japan had a war with Russia, a female adaptation of Shōnen Sekai was created named Shōjo Sekai. Also some children's books were translated to Japanese and published in Shōnen Sekai. The magazine had many features too, such as sugoroku boards and baseball cards. Shōnen Sekai was mentioned in many American books but no series were actually translated.
Features
The Shōnen Sekai magazine had many add-ins such as sugoroku boards. The sugoroku Shōnen Sekai Kyōso Sugoroku was originally produced as a supplement to the Shōnen Sekai magazine and is currently seen at the Tsukiji Sugoroku Museum in Japan. Also packs of baseball cards were featured in the magazine in a February 1915 issue of Shōnen Sekai. Players that were included into the pack were Fumio Fujimura, Makoto Kozuru, Shigeru Chiba and Hideo Fujimoto. Many manga and children's literature were featured in Shōnen Sekai. An example of this was Iwaya Sazanami (the creator of Shōnen Sekai)'s Shin Hakken-den which had the concept of rewarding the good and punishing the evil a common theme to children's fiction in the 20th century. Shin Hakken-den was based on Nansō Satomi Hakkenden from the Edo period by Takizawa Bakin. Shōnen Sekai carried many stories based on war, and acts of bravery upon war written by Hyōtayu Shimanuki [Hyōdayu -]. In Shōnen Sekai some titles were also translated from other languages, for example: Deux ans de vacances (an obscure French novel from the 1800s) was translated to Japanese by Morita Shiken under the title Jūgo Shōnen (十五少年) and The Jungle Book was also published in Shōnen Sekai.
Shōnen Sekai media in the English language
Shōnen Sekai was mentioned various times in many English books. In the book The New Japanese Women: Modernity, Media, and Women in Interwar Japan mentioned Shōnen Sekai in the notes to chapter 3 as one of many magazines that Hakubunkan made to relate to different parts of society. Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Asia: From the Taiping Rebellion to the Vietnam War also mentioned Shōnen Sekai as a popular magazine of that time, with an additional mention to Shōjo Sekai, its female equivalent. Issei: Japanese Immigrants in Hawaii mentioned Shōnen Sekai as just a publication of Hakubunkan. In the book No Sword to Bury: Japanese Americans in Hawai'i During World War II had mention of Shimanuki Hyotayu who writes about immigration matters in Shōnen Sekai. Shōnen Sekai was also mentioned in both The Similitude of Blossoms: A Critical Biography of Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939), Japanese Novelist and Playwright and Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period.
The closest thing to an actual series published in English was The Jungle Book which was originally in the English language. The Jungle Book was published in the United States by Macmillan Publishers in 1894 and is currently being published by them in London.
