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MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺 (1903): About Magazines (雑誌を論ず)

Published onApr 13, 2017
MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺 (1903): About Magazines (雑誌を論ず)

Miyake Setsurei: About Magazines (translation and commentary by Robert Kraft)

Since its republication (kaikan), the Nihonjin1 has accumulated two hundred issues (); if one further adds all issues since its first publication – on the day of the anniversary of Jinmu Emperor’s death in 1888 – in total it amounts to more than three hundred and seventy issues. Shall one describe the endurance of this fortnightly magazine (maitsuki nikai no hakkō) up until now as ‘long’? We already considered it ‘long’ with the accomplished publication of one hundred issues, and again when we reached one hundred and fifty. If we now, reaching the two hundred mark, look back on the past, we see that magazines (zasshi) usually appeared and disappeared but did not exist for long periods of time. Furthermore, if we summarize their main characteristics during the time of their existence, in general they solely tried to catch the public’s fancy of the period. Eager to please as many people as possible, they came to entirely lean toward commercialism (eigyō shugi). Publishers often claim that they are willing to continue running a magazine even if it generates financial losses, but this is no more than a short-lived empty rhetoric. They only continue publication as long as they can make profits, and when after publishing some issues they cannot avoid losses, they will not tenaciously continue publication. If the income does not at least cover the expenses, they will not resolve upon long term publication. Previously there have been some people, who, instead of focusing on making money, published magazines with lofty aims, for example, commenting on politics or discussing and reporting on society or literature. In short, they cared less about making a profit and more about expressing an opinion. However, although it occasionally still happens, something of this kind has become extremely rare these days because, generally speaking, publishers devote themselves to business and sacrifice everything else in its favor.

For publishers who make business their magazine’s first principle, it is of utmost importance to efface themselves and suite other people’s taste. This and nothing else is the key to financial success. Certainly, one’s own taste does not necessarily coincide with that of others. Therefore, if one relies one-sidedly on one’s own likes and dislikes and does not know about that of other people, there is the risk that people turn away and the magazine ultimately loses all its readers. That is why, if a publisher seeks to continually win a lot of subscribers and bind their hearts to his magazine over a long period of time, he first has to make an effort to meet their tastes. What do many people like at present? What do they dislike? The publisher will not even for one moment be unmindful of this. He will persevere in meeting people’s preferences and avoiding what they detest, and in doing so he will completely abandon his own judgment of what is right and wrong. So when it comes to passing criticism on something, he will, contingent first and foremost on the curiosities of most of his subscribers, devote himself entirely to promoting and praising the most irrelevant trifles or even fallacies, while inevitably ignoring things that are very important but do not awaken people’s interest. In fact, such can be seen often among recent magazines and all of them are quite successful in terms of capturing the public’s fancy, so one has to admit that they have become strikingly masterful in running their business. Yet when we ask about their aims of publication, there is absolutely nothing worth mentioning. As for the magazine, an approach like the one described above may be commercially advantageous, but the articles it publishes become like commodities displayed in a department store, where shopkeepers simply arrange good and bad products side by side. Revealing ones individuality in particular through a magazine is surely nothing to praise. However, we wonder whether or not people who publish magazines only for business’s sake sometimes even act against their real feelings. Maybe they do hold a belief which they make public via a magazine, but people do not perceive it, so they decide to publish merely for money, not without regret, but ultimately with an unburdened conscience. Of course, making profits with the publication of a magazine is better than incurring losses; nevertheless it is evident that the absence of losses alone does not make the magazine valuable. We cannot help being startled by the insincerity and foolishness of people, who exclusively seek money, subordinate everything else to that purpose, and discontinue their magazine after a little while if the profits are not as high as expected.

In America magazines as well as newspapers (shinbun) aim at catching the fancies of the time. There are truly more opportunistically designed magazines than anywhere else in the world. Their illustrations are beautiful; their articles are amusing; what other country could compete with this? Journals like The Century2Scribner’s3Harper’s4 and The Cosmopolitan, with their style and the hearts of so many people they win, are without equal. The World’s Work is very well-rounded, too, and there are many other illustrated magazines, which are all worth being proud of as a distinctive feature of America. Journals of that kind are interesting to read and also moderately priced, whereas ones that only compile essays without any pictures or novels are boring and rather expensive. For instance, The Century is priced at sixty-five sen, The Cosmopolitanat twenty-five sen, Harper’s at fifty sen, and Munsey’s5 at twenty-five sen, while on the other hand the North American6, which is merely an essay compilation with no illustrations, is sold at a price of one yen and twenty-five sen and is very unmarketable in comparison to the other magazines.7 The Forum had long been a monthly (gekkan) but was forced to be made a quarterly (nen’yonkai) due to its small circulation. Still, does the existence of publications like the North American not play an important part in keeping American literature at its level?

The magazines in Britain cannot at all compete with the American ones in terms of beautiful pictures. Although there are several illustrated magazines, it is obvious that they are no match for those in America in respect of suiting the public taste. However, the expensive ones without pictures are actually much better than the American journals. The Nineteenth CenturyThe Contemporary ReviewThe Fortnightly ReviewThe Monthly ReviewThe Independent ReviewBlackwood’s Magazine, the National Review, they are all sold at a price of one yen and twenty-five sen per issue. Last year the Edinburgh Review published its centenary issue, with the same blue cover, the same quarterly cycle of publication, and the same topics of politics and literature as a hundred years ago. To retain style, cycle of publication, and scope of content unchanged over such a long period of time looks rather ridiculously stubborn and mindless, but it is indeed not easy for others to keep up with this endurance and austerity. And its price per issue amounts to three yen. Is it not somewhat unusual that a magazine like this is continuously published in a time in which there are so many low-priced and multifaceted journals? That there are many kiosks (zasshiten) with magazines displayed at the storefront is the same as in our country, but those magazines are all illustrated and sold at low prices, not the expensive ones without pictures. If one wants to buy the latter, e.g., The Nineteenth Century or The Contemporary Review, one has to order them from the publishing office (hakkōjo), not to mention journals like the Edinburgh Review, which many shopkeepers selling magazines (zasshishō) have not even seen once in their lifetime. The only magazine that contains essays and is sold regularly at kiosks is the Review of Reviews, but this is because it is illustrated and cheap. Is it not an indicator of Britain’s cultural degree and achievements that, while no other discourse-centered magazine is displayed in shops, there are some expensive ones which are not displayed but still continue to be published and flourish over decades, with one not even changing its outward appearance for a hundred years?

America is just on the road of progress and some may be in favor of turning everything into American-style; for in the near future the country will become superior to Europe. It is true that America has its strong points, but it is still a young nation and there are more than a few things which are not progressive yet, for example the universities with the grand sight of their architecture. Judging only from their façade, no other countries’ universities are a match for them. However, their inner substance is out of proportion to that. They may meet the present American requirements, but the professors, as well as the students, generally lack a great deal of academic ability. This is due to the nation’s young age. In a few years the inner substance will also naturally improve and for sure be in line with the splendid façade. Anyway, it would be mistaken to simply extrapolate from outward grandeur to inner quality and, based on this, to aim at imitation. The Americans themselves know of their interior deficiencies and are seeking for what they lack in Europe. Many American students head to Europe for study and even some university professors go to study abroad. That says it all, and it is the same with magazines. In accordance with technological progress the advancement of paper and printing is remarkable and low postage rates in America are also advantageous, but the journals’ contents are by no means of a similar quality. It is sufficient to win the favor of the masses, yet intellectuals do not get anything out of it. We think that as time goes by America will make further progress and successively bring out truly great magazines (shinmenmoku no daizasshi) of the same type as the ones Britain is currently proud of. However, it would be a terrible mistake if people, being ignorant of that, see only their outer appearance and believe it necessary to model all magazines after them.

Our Japan is in many respects inferior to America and well-advised to take it as a model, but even though in general there are cultural aspects with respect to which the Americans take the lead, our nation is older than theirs and therefore on some points not only not worse but rather a bit better. To give an example, the scale of their universities is larger than that of ours; still, concerning the inner substance, we do not suffer much in comparison. Trying solely to catch the public’s fancy as the publisher of a magazine is not altogether wrong; especially from the viewpoint of a businessman it is inevitable. But are the people, who do not consider it right to make publishing a business and are still intent on following this example, not betraying themselves? Although it is in principle neither impossible to make the publication of a magazine a commercial enterprise, nor to only meet the needs of the moment with it, as a mere profit-oriented business it is not in the least pleasant. Hakubunkan started with the cutout magazine (kirinuki zasshiTaika ronshū and has finally built up its present fortune, which is indeed great. But if the late Mr. Sahei had engaged in another business, and, with a bit of luck, had led this to prosperity, he might have been much more successful.8 There must be other businesses to pile up huge amounts of money. Especially people who want to voice their own opinions through magazines should be mindful of that because, in the event that somebody cherishes such an ambition and at the same time aims at profits, he then, as the saying goes, hunts two hares9 and might lose both – or even worse.

Notes:

1See the commentary below.

2The Century Magazine.

3Scribner’s Magazine.

4At the time Miyake wrote his essay, Harper & Brothers published Harper’s WeeklyHarper’s Magazine, and Harper’s Bazar. Theoretically, Miyake could refer to any one of these three.

5Munsey’s Magazine.

6North American Review.

7Miyake indicates prices in Japanese currency (1 sen = 1/100 yen). Since the exact date and the source of the information is not clear (maybe he gathered it on a world trip he made from April 1902 till June 1903), and how, if at all, (e.g., based on what exchange rates) he converted currencies is neither, I will leave them as they are in the original text and make the verification thereof the subject of future research.

8Hakubunkan was a publishing company founded in Tokyo by the entrepreneur Ōhashi Sahei (*1836-†1901) in 1887. Its first publication was the Nihon taika ronshū (‘The Collection of Essays by Eminent Writers in Japan’), which was a magazine that, like an anthology, collected and newly compiled outstanding essays from various academic journals. This is very likely what Miyake means by the term ‘cutout magazine’.

9Lit. ‘a horsefly and a bee’.

Japanese: (old kanji have been replaced by new ones and kenten left out)

雑誌を論ず

『日本人』は改刊以来号を重ぬる二百、明治二十一年皇祖祭初刊よりの分を合はせば、総じて三百七十余号に上る、毎月二回の発行を以て茲に至れるは、寧ろ長しといふべきか。第一百号までの事は、其の当時既に之を言ひぬ、百五十号に及びて亦た略々言へりし所あり、茲に二百号に達して既往を顧みるに、雑誌の起仆旧に依りて常なかりしを見る。而して其の間に生ぜし首たる現象を言へば、概して時代の好尚に投ずるに専らなりしこと是れなり、成るべく多数を悦ばすを目的と為し、随ひて全く営業主義に傾くに至りたり。損失を忍びて維持せんとは往々発行者の口にする所なるが、要するに一時の壮語に止まり、依りて以て利の収むべき限り発行を続け、若し数号にして損失を免かれざる、則ち能く忍びて続刊するある無く、少くも収支相ひ償ふにあらざれば永続を期せんとせず。以前は営利以外に、高尚なる目的を懐きて雑誌を発行せしものあり、或は政治に関して意見を発表せんとし、或は社会若くは文学に関して意見及び記事を公にせんとし、特に営利といふを念頭に置かず、唯だ主張を之れ旨とする無きにあらざりしかど、近来斯かる目的を懐けるは極めて少く、時に偶々之れ有るにせよ、汎言すれば営業を専らとして総べてを其の犠牲に供せんとするもの滔々として皆な然りとす。

既に営業を専一として雑誌の発刊に従ふ、其の最も勉むべきは己れを没却して他の好む所に投ずるに在り、唯だ此の一事、以て功を収むるの秘訣たり。蓋し己れの好む所、必ずしも他の好む所にあらず、己れの好む所にのみ偏して他の好む所の何たるを知らざる、他は自ら離れ去りて遂に全く読者を失ふに至るの恐れあり、常に多くの購読者を得、而して永く其の心を維がんと欲する、則ち一に購読者の好む所に投ずるに勉めざるべからず、目下多数人士の好む所は如何、其の悪む所は如何、居常之を考ふるに懈らず、其の好む所を迎へ其の悪む所を避くるに勉め、而して己れの是非判断の如き、全く棄てゝ顧みず、特に或る事を批評するに方り、主として多数購読者の好奇心に投じ、瑣細の小事若くは誤謬の思考をも、猶ほ全力を傾注して之れを鼓吹し称揚し、事の重要とすべきものも、苟も多数人士の関心する所ならざる、則ち黙過して已まざるを得ず。斯の如きは実に近時に於ける多くの雑誌を通じて見る所、而して孰れも時代の好尚に投ずといふ点に於て成功と名くべきに幾く、雑誌営業としては頗る巧みなるを得たりと謂ふべし。則ち巧みなるを得たりと謂ふべしと雖も、而も其の之を発行するの何の為めたるかを観る、毫も言ふべきものある無し、雑誌として営業に都合好きにせよ、誌中に載録せらるゝ所の論説記事は商品の勧工場に陳列せられたる如く、善きも悪しきも唯だ商人の手に排列せらるゝのみ。個人を特別に現はすは固より称すべきの事に非ずと雖も、而も全く営業の為めの故に雑誌を発刊すとする、則ち其の人の本心に負くこと無きや否や、己れ胸裏に或る意見を抱懐し、仍りて雑誌を藉りて此を発表するに、観る者之を察せず、尚ほ単に営利の為めなりとする、憾みなきに非ずと雖も、省みて疚しきを覚えず、雑誌を発刊して利益を得るは損失を招くに優るべきも、損失なしと云ふ丈けにては未だ以て称すべきに非ざるや明かなり、況んや営利を専らとして何事も皆な此に附随せしめながら、猶ほ意の如く利益を収得する能はず、却て久しからず発刊するに於ては、其の狡獪にして而も愚なるに驚かざるを得ず。

米国にては新聞の時好に投ずるを旨とするが如く、雑誌も亦た之れを旨とし、場当たりの雑誌の多きこと、実に世界第一に居り、挿画の美麗なる、記事の愉快なる、何国か能く其の右に出づるを得んや。センチュリー、スクリブナー、ハーパース、コスモポリタンの如き、其の美麗にして人心を惹くの多き、到底他に観るべからざる所、ウヲールズ・ウヲークも亦た実に多趣味なるもの、其の他挿画ある多くの雑誌、皆な以て米の特色として誇るに足るべし。斯かる類は読みて面白く、価も亦た廉なるに、挿画なく小説なく、只だ論文をのみ蒐輯したるは、読みて面白からず、而して価却て高かし。即ちセンチュリーは六拾五銭、コスモポリタンは弐拾五銭、ハーパースは五拾銭、ムンゼーは弐拾五銭なれど、論文をのみ蒐録して一の挿画なきノース・アメリカンは壱円廿五銭を値し、他に比して販路甚だ狭し、久しく月刊なりしフヲーラムは革めて年四回と為すの已む可らざるに及べり、然れどもノース・アメリカンの類あるは即ち米国文学の品格を維持するに与かりて少からざる力あるに非ずや。

英国の雑誌は、挿画の美なるに於て到底米国に及ぶべくもあらず、挿画あるもの二三に止まらざるも、時好に投ずるの巧みなるに於て此れの彼れに若かざる明白、而も挿画なくして高価なるものに至りては却て遠く他の上に出づ。ナインチーンス・センテュリーの如き、コンテムポラリー・レヴューの如き、フォートナイトレ・レヴューの如き、マンスリー・レヴューの如き、インデペンデント・レヴュー、ブラックウード・マガジン、ナショナル・レヴーの如き皆な一冊一円廿五銭なり。エヂンバラ・レヴューは昨年第一百年記念号を発行せしが、一百年前に創刊せしと同一の青表紙にして、同じく年四回発行、同じく政治文学を兼ねて論ぜり、一百年の久しき間、同一の体裁を保ち、同一の発行を続け、且つ同一の方面に筆を着けたる、寧ろ頑鈍嗤ふべきに似たれど、其の堅忍にして質実なる、実に他の容易に企て及ぶ所にあらず、而して其の価を問へば則ち一冊三円なり。価廉にして而も趣味多き雑誌の累々たる際に於て、又た此の如き状態にて発行を継続せるある、以て聊か奇とするに足らずや。多くの雑誌店ありて店頭に雑誌を陳列せるは猶ほ我国と同じきも、皆な挿画ありて価廉なるもの、挿画なくして高価なるは一も有るなし、夫のナインチーンス、コンテムポラリー等を購はんとする、必ず其の発行所に注文するを要す、況んやエヂムバラの如きに至りては、雑誌商の生れて以来形をさへ見ざるもの多し。議論文あるものにして発行毎に雑誌店に飾らるゝは一のレヴュー・オヴ・レヴュースあるのみ、蓋し挿画ありて価廉なるに因る、之を外にし議論文を主としたるの飾らるゝを見ずと雖も、店頭に飾られずして而も高価なる雑誌の数十年間続刊して更に益々盛況に向へる、特に一百年間其の体裁を改めずして尚ほ能く維持しつゝある、亦た以て文化の度を推し其の素養あるを察すべきに非ずや。

米国は今正さに進歩の途に在り、遠からず欧州を圧すべき国なれば、何事も皆な米国流なるを可とする者もあらん。米国は固より長所あり、而も建国日浅くして進歩の到らざるもの少からず、大学の如き、其の建築は実に壮観なり、形のみを以て言へば、孰れの国も能く及ぶ無けれど、内容は則ち此に伴はず、以て米国現在の必要に応ずるは之れ有らんも、学力に於ては教授も学生も概ね頗る劣れり。然るも此の如きは国を成して日猶ほ浅きに因る、若し更に多少の歳月を経るある、自然に内部充実して以て外観の宏麗と応ずるに至らんは必すべし。或は単に其の外観の宏麗なるを観て内容も亦た然りと為し以て之を模倣せんとするあらば則ち誤れりと為さゞる能はず。現に内部の足らざるは米人善く之を知り、汲々として之を欧州に求めつゝあり、留学生の彼れに渡るもの多く、中には大学教授の自ら出でゝ留学するさへある、以て其の程度を測るべし。雑誌の如きも亦た然り、機械の進歩に伴ひて紙及び印刷の進歩も亦た著るしく、且つ援くるに郵税の廉なるを以てすれど、内容の果して爾かく整へるかと言へば決して然らず、以て多数者の歓心を博すべきは之れ有るも、識者に於て何の得る所あるなし、想ふに歳月を経ると共に益々進み、今日英国の誇ると同じきが如き真面目の大雑誌の続々として現出するを見ることあらん。之を是れ察せず、唯だ其の外観のみを見、而して雑誌といふ雑誌の尽く此の如くならざるべからざるを思ふある、謬れるも甚だし。

我が日本は米国に及ばざる所多く、模範を彼に採るべき少しとせず、即ち文化の普きに於て彼に比して到らざる所あるべきも、其の由て来る所却て久しく、為めに或る点に於て啻に彼に劣らざるのみならず、時に少しく優さる無きにしもあらず。例せば大学の如き、規模の大なるに於て若かざるも、内容は彼に較べて多く遜色あるなし。雑誌を発行する者の時好に投ずるに専らなるは強がち不可なりとせず特に営業者として已むべからざる所たりと雖も、之を営業とするを屑とせざる者にして猶ほ之に倣ふに汲々たる、自ら欺く者と謂ふべきに非ずや。雑誌を以て営利の業と為すは固より可、場当たりに専らなる亦た不可ならずとはいへ、営利一方としては決して愉快なる業にあらず、博文館が大家論集といふ切抜雑誌を手始めとして遂に今の身代に成り上がりたる、偉と云はゞ則ち偉と云ふべしと雖も、若し故佐平氏をして他の事業に当たり、幸にして順境に向ふを得せしめたらんには、より多く成功したるやも知るべからず、百万千万の金を積むべき業は別に在るあるべし。況んや拠りて以て己れの主張を開陳せんとする者に至りては、須らく大に注意すべきを要す、若し此念ありて而も営利に専らなる、乃ち謂ゆる虻蜂取らずよりも更に甚だしきものあらん。

(Source: MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Zasshi wo ronzu 雑誌を論ず [About Magazines], in: Nihonjin, Vol. 200, 1903b, pp. 6-9.)

Commentary:

Miyake Setsurei (*1860-†1945) was a philosopher, journalist, historian, and founding member of the Seikyōsha (‘Society for Politics and Education’) and its main publication, the magazine Nihonjin (‘The Japanese’). The day of the society’s founding as well as the publication of the magazine’s first issue was April 3, 1888. As Miyake says at the beginning of his essay, this was also the day the anniversary of the death of Jinmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan, was celebrated, which symbolically signifies the nationalist character of the Seikyōsha and the Nihonjin. However, this nationalism is not to be confused with the emperor-centered kokutai ideology propagated by the Meiji government at the latest from the 1890s (for a study of the role the emperor played in modern Japanese nationalism and the concept of kokutai, see ANTONI 1991). As Miyake later remembered in his historical work Meiji shisō shōshi (‘A Small History of the Thought in the Meiji Period’, 1913), the Seikyōsha had brought forward its arguments under the label of kokusui hozon (lit. ‘preservation of national characteristics’; since this was criticized as being too conservative, the term ‘preservation’ was later changed into ‘promotion’ [jochō] and ‘commendation’ [kenshō]) in opposition to the government’s approach of what the Seikyōsha members considered weakening foreign and rigorous domestic policy (see MIYAKE 1971: 410-412). Put simply, they criticized the government for superficially westernizing Japan and argued that while it is reasonable to introduce to Japan those Western things necessary to modernize the country and compensate its weaknesses, it is imperative to preserve the essence of what makes the Japanese nation unique, i.e., the spirit of Japan. The Nihonjin served as a medium to communicate this thought, but it is important to note that the Seikyōsha was by no means a homogenous society with every member entertaining the same view on how kokusui hozon was to be understood or put into practice. It was more like a guiding principle, which the members could interpret according to their individual fields of interest (see YANAGIDA 1956: 34-35, NAKANOME 1993: 146-147 and ARIYAMA 1977: 3-5, 14). For this reason at the beginning, until the eighth issue, the name of the author of each article published in the Nihonjin was given to make clear whose opinion the article reflects. From issue nine on, the magazine carried also leading articles (shasetsu) without the author’s name, which then showed the position held by the society as a whole in distinction from personal discourse (ronsetsu) (see ARIYAMA 1977: 17). The responsibilities within the society also changed over time. First, Shiga Shigetaka (*1863-†1927) alone was editor in chief (shuhitsu) of the Nihonjin; after a while Shiga and Miyake shared this position. Around the middle of the 1890s, Shiga devoted himself more and more to political engagement and the other founding members, too, turned away from the Seikyōsha one after the other or had already died. So, when Shiga eventually entered the political party Rikken seiyūkai (‘Friends of Constitutional Government Association’) in 1900, Miyake remained as head of the society and the Nihonjinvirtually became his own journal (see NAKANOME 1993: 253-257, 291-293, YANAGIDA 1956: 25, 37, ARIYAMA 1977: 13, 27-29). It therefore seems right to assume that Miyake was responsible for the essay presented above, which was published as a leading article with no author’s name given in the two hundredth issue of the Nihonjinon Dec. 5, 1903. This assumption is further backed by the fact that the essay appeared twice in Sōkon (‘Traces of Thought’, 1915), a collection of essays by Miyake Setsurei. In this later version the first sentences about the occasion of publication are missing and it differs slightly from the original text in terms of punctuation and kana syllables besides Chinese characters (furigana), which did not exist in the original version, but were added later to aid in reading. Still, it is the same essay. Of course it happens that articles, which were formerly thought to have been written by Miyake, are found to be actually of somebody else’s authorship. For example, the essay Ajia keirin saku(‘Measures to Administrate Asia’) was likewise published in the Nihonjin in three parts as a series of authorless leading articles in 1890 and has long been said to be a work by Miyake Setsurei, but Nakanome Tōru’s research has cast doubts on whether this is true. He believes Omoto Toshitarō (*1862-†1899) to be the author of Ajia keirin saku(see NAKANOME 2014: 118-120). However, since Miyake was still alive when the collective volume Sōkon was published and he himself added a preface to it, his authorship of ‘About Magazines’ can be taken for granted.

As Miyake says, the issue his essay was published in was the two hundredth since the republication of the Nihonjin (in 1895), which in total amounted to more than three hundred and seventy issues at this time, if all issues since its first publication are taken into account – this may require some further explanation. The magazine could not be continuously published due to two major reasons. Firstly, the Seikyōsha was financially in a bad condition. It sometimes had problems in paying the salary of its members or covering the expenses of printing (see NAKANOME 1993: 127-128, 252). This was to some degree a result of the society’s moral principles. In the founding manifesto of the Nihonjin it was emphasized that the magazine shall not be sold at a price higher than necessary to defray production costs (see SEIKYŌSHA 1888: inside front cover). Secondly, as the Seikyōsha formulated harsh political criticism, it faced suppression by the government in the form of temporary bans on publication of the Nihonjin. The Seikyōsha members helped themselves by publishing another journal titled ‘Ajia’ (‘Asia’) in the times that the Nihonjin was forbidden (see NAKANOME 1993: 127-128, ARIYAMA 1977: 24-27 and YANAGIDA 1956: 37-38). This was possible because in 1887 the government had decided to relax the regulations, which earlier had stipulated that, upon the imposition of a ban on one newspaper or magazine of a person or society, all other publications of this person or society are likewise to be forbidden and the printing machines to be confiscated (see OKA 1977: 46-48). Most of the time the Nihonjin was published semi-monthly, sometimes weekly, with a circulation of between one thousand five hundred and eleven thousand copies per issue (see NAKANOME 1993: 129). At the time Miyake’s essay was published, one copy was priced at twelve sen plus one sen for postage; subscription was one yen and twenty-five sen for half a year or two yen and thirty sen for one year, respectively, with no payment needed for postage. Because the magazine was written in a difficult classical style without furigana, it is believed that most readers were well educated people (see ibid.: 133-135 and ARIYAMA 1977: 13-14). Publication under the title ‘Nihonjin’ lasted until the end of 1906. The magazine then partly took over the newspaper Nippon (‘Japan’) and changed its name into ‘Nihon oyobi Nihonjin’ (‘The Japan and Japanese’, since Jan. 1, 1907; the Nippon continued being published until 1914). The Seikyōsha and the publishing company of the Nippon, the Nippon shinbunsha, had always had a good relationship. They shared largely the same thought; some members of one society were also members of the other; they contributed articles to each other’s publications; and since 1898 they even had their company headquarters in the same building in Tokyo. The partial fusion of their publications was an attempt to keep the ‘traditional’ Nippon alive somehow after its owner Kuga Katsunan (*1857-†1907), who had in a somewhat conservative manner long struggled to resist the trends of commercialization and capitalization of the press and maintain the elite character of his newspaper, had to sell it due to illness, and many staff members left the company because the new owner wanted to overhaul it in accordance with the tendencies of the time (see YANAGIDA 1956: 29, ARIYAMA 1977: 28-29, 32-34, NAKANOME 2014: 7 and n.a. 1906: 3). Thereafter Miyake Setsurei continued to be the head of the Seikyōsha and its magazine under the new title, but left the society in 1923 after internal quarrels and founded a new magazine called ‘Gakan’ (‘My Views’, temporarily renamed as Tōtairiku or ‘The Eastern Continent’ from 1936 till 1943), which he published until his death (see ARIYAMA 1977: 47-48 and YANAGIDA 1956: 39).

With regard to the contents of ‘About Magazines’, it is obvious that Miyake considers it the main function of magazines to serve as a vehicle for the expression of opinions. In Miyake’s view, this is a quality of the magazine as medium – also in distinction from newspapers, which, according to him, are limited in their influence only to the one day they are published, whereas magazines can have an effect over a longer time (see MIYAKE 1915a: 2-3). Miyake himself wrote for many different magazines and newspapers during his lifetime, but his contributions to newspapers were less frequent than those he made to magazines, because his primary aim was expression of opinion rather than news coverage. He never entered a newspaper publishing company as a regular employee; the only newspapers he was willing to write for over a longer period were papers like the Nippon, which guaranteed him absolute freedom of expression (see YANAGIDA 1956: 212-215, 237 and MIYAKE 1997: 117-118). He also used magazines to publish his larger philosophical and historical works as well as his autobiographical writings in serial form. In contrast, publishing magazines only as a means to make profits is something Miyake, who seems to have been caring not in the least about money matters in business as well as in private life (see MIYAKE 1997: 82-83 and YANAGIDA 1956: 218-223), criticizes in his essay. He directed a similar criticism at the Japanese newspapers of the time (see MIYAKE 1903a). Although his appraisal of the conditions of the press in Meiji-Japan is a very interesting contemporary witness, as historians we naturally have to question it and perhaps relativize it in some points. This cannot be done exhaustively here, but at least I would like to point two problems out. First, Miyake says that in the past there were some magazines published for lofty purposes like commenting on politics, or discussing about and reporting on the society or literature, what probably refers to the critical magazines (hyōron zasshi), political magazines (seiron zasshi) and literary journals (bungaku zasshi) of the first third or so of the Meiji period, i.e., of the ‘civilization and enlightenment’-phase (bunmei kaika) and the time of the ‘Freedom and People’s Rights Movement’ (Jiyū minken undō) (for an introduction to the development of magazines during this early period see NISHIDA 1989: 179-186), but it is not clear which magazines exactly Miyake has in mind when criticizing the latest trend of commercialism and based on what grounds he judges publishers’ concentration on profits. Furthermore, and related to this, even if it is found that a magazine was discontinued out of financial considerations, the question arises whether this was due to mere commercialism or whether there were some other reasons behind it. For example, Tokutomi Sohō (*1863-†1957) founded the magazine Kokumin no tomo (‘The Nation’s Friend’) in 1887 and the daily newspaper Kokumin shinbun (‘The Nation’) three years later in 1890. Tokutomi considered newspapers the more effective medium to influence politics, so, after the well-selling Kokumin no tomohad been supporting the Kokumin shinbun financially for some years, in 1898, when Tokutomi’s business did not go well, he decided to stop publication of the magazine and incorporate it into his newspaper (see ARIYAMA 1992: 9-10, 48-56, 87, 107). In this case, although there surely were financial considerations behind the decision to discontinue the magazine, one can hardly speak of commercialism. In fact, it is believed that Tokutomi used his private money (besides financial aid he may have received from political friends) to back the Kokumin shinbun in times it faced financial straits (see ibid.: 114-127). My point is not whether or not Miyake’s criticism is true for the particular case of Tokutomi and the Kokumin no tomo – maybe this was one of the exemptions of which Miyake admits that they exist –, but that, while Miyake’s essay gives an insight into the conditions of magazines in the Meiji period, it is important to check it through case studies and to take information into account, which Miyake might not have had at hand, before making a more general judgment – of course Miyake’s essay is most probably not the result of in-depth research but rather an account of his personal impressions.

References:

ANTONI, Klaus (ed.), Der himmlische Herrscher und sein Staat. Essays zur Stellung des Tennō im modernen Japan, Munich: Iudicium, 1991.

ARIYAMA Teruo 有山輝雄, Kaidai: Zasshi ‘Nihonjin’ • ‘Nihon oyobi Nihonjin’ no hensen – sono genron to dōjin 解題  雑誌「日本人」・「日本及日本人」の変遷――その言論と同人 [Introduction: The Magazine ‘Nihonjin’/‘Nihon oyobi Nihonjin’ in the Course of Time: Its Journalism and Members], in: NIHON KINDAI SHIRYŌ KENKYŪKAI (ed.), Zasshi ‘Nihonjin’ • ‘Nihon oyobi Nihonjin’ mokuji sōran I, Tokyo: Hayakawa tosho, 1977, pp. 1-54.

ARIYAMA Teruo 有山輝雄, Tokutomi Sohō to Kokumin shinbun 徳富蘇峰と国民新聞 [Tokutomi Sohō and the Kokumin shinbun], Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1992.

MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Jiden/Jibun wo kataru 自伝/自分を語る [Autobiography/About Me] (Ningen no kiroku 43), Tokyo: Nihon tosho sentā, 1997.

MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Jo 序 [Preface], in: MATSUMOTO Chiwaki (ed.), Sōkon, Tokyo: Shiseidō, 1915a, pp. 1-4.

MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Meiji shisō shōshi 明治思想小史 [A Small History of the Thought in the Meiji Period], in: KANO Masanao (ed.), Kuga Katsunan, Miyake Setsurei(Nihon no meicho 37), Tokyo: Chūō kōronsha, 1971, pp. 397-438.

MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Shinbunshi wo ronzu 新聞紙を論ず [About Newspapers], in: Nihonjin, Vol. 201, 1903a, pp. 9-10.

MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Zasshi wo ronzu 雑誌を論ず [About Magazines], in: Nihonjin, Vol. 200, 1903b, pp. 6-9.

MIYAKE Setsurei 三宅雪嶺, Zasshi wo ronzu 雑誌を論ず [About Magazines], in: MATSUMOTO Chiwaki (ed.), Sōkon, Tokyo: Shiseidō, 1915b, pp. 1331-1338.

NAKANOME Tōru 中野目徹, Meiji no seinen to nashonarizumu: Seikyōsha • Nippon shinbunsha no gunzō 明治の青年とナショナリズム――政教社・日本新聞社の群像 [Meiji-Youth and Nationalism: The Seikyōsha and the Nippon shinbunsha], Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 2014.

NAKANOME Tōru 中野目徹, Seikyōsha no kenkyū 政教社の研究 [A Study of the Seikyōsha], Kyoto: Shibunkaku shuppan, 1993.

NISHIDA Taketoshi 西田長壽, Nihon jānarizumu-shi kenkyū 日本ジャーナリズム史研究 [A Study of the History of Japanese Journalism], Tokyo: Misuzu shobō, 1989.

OKA Mitsuo 岡満男, Kindai Nihon shinbun shōshi: sono tanjō kara kigyōka made 近代日本新聞小史――その誕生から企業化まで [A Small History of Newspapers in Modern Japan: From Birth to Commercialization] (Shakai kagaku sensho 60), revised edition, Kyoto: Mineruva shobō, 1977.

SEIKYŌSHA 政教社, [Nihonjin Founding Manifesto], in: Nihonjin, Vol. 1, 1888, inside front cover.

YANAGIDA Izumi 柳田泉, Tetsujin Miyake Setsurei-sensei 哲人三宅雪嶺先生 [The Philosopher Miyake Setsurei], Tokyo: Jitsugyō no sekai sha, 1956.

n.a., ‘Nihon oyobi Nihonjin’ to kaidai suru yuen『日本及日本人』と改題する所以 [The Reason for the Change of Title into ‘Nihon oyobi Nihonjin’], in: Nihonjin, Vol. 449, 1906, pp. 3-6.

Comments
1
Martin Roth:

[@highlight/1127] This remark on cultural achievements is really interesting as an observation of the times when Miyake wrote this text, but also as a relevant question in the context of this platform. How does ReVisions, how does academic publishing relate to this discussion in general, and to the comment on cultural achievements in particular?